This tradition of spiritual weeping has to be understood as an inseparable part of the very nature of Pesantren Daarut Tauhid as the Bengkel Akhlaq. This can clearly be seen by understanding the meaning and function of the weeping.

First of all, the ritual weeping provides awareness of life’s sins. Men and women involved in the Daarut Tauhid’s activities and rituals come to the consciousness that their life has been full of mistakes and wrong doings in dealing with other people, this universe, and God. They realise that they have been causing ecological damage, destroying social relations, and neglecting Allah’s commands for living in this world. They are, in short, awakened to the fact that they have been trapped in moral degradation. They express this consciousness in the form of tears.

Secondly, the ritual weeping offers taubat, in the sense of repentance. Men and women at Daarut Tauhid, being fully conscious of their sinfulness, regret their sinful life, particularly in the past. They humbly confess this before Allah in the ritual, by way of weeping.

Finally, the ritual weeping at Daarut Tauhid constitutes the manifest form of a high-standard of taqwa (piety). Pious Muslims are said to weep easily, not only because of sinfulness--although they rarely commit sins--but also because of the high quality of their faith. A santri said that “the ritual weeping, for them [devout Muslims] is the manifestation of faith [iman], that resides [bersemayam] in their heart, their sound heart, and their total submission to Allah, the Creator.” Therefore the more pious one is the more frequently one would weep. A pious Muslim whose heart is sound may weep as often during spiritual contemplations and religious rituals as in daily life. In exemplifying this, another santri said that a pious Muslim may weep when viewing beautiful sights of this universe just because he is amazed by Allah’s glory in creating those sights. Similarly, he or she may weep when witnessing environmental damage and social disorder engendered by Allah’s creatures because he is “embarrassed” before Him. In any circumstance, a pious Muslim is said to be touched with the deepest emotion in his relation to Allah. This finds its outlet in tears.

Given these meanings, the ritual weeping at Daarut Tauhid have many important functions. First, the ritual weeping function as a means of personal purification. Crying here is an expression of istighfar, that is asking forgiveness from Allah, the Very Indulgent, for life’s sins. “One might do istighfar without tears,” a santri said, “but doing it with tears is an earnest request for Allah’s pardon.”

In its function as a means of personal purification, ritual weeping is also an expression of taubat nasuha (true repentance and forswearing). Taubat is a further step of istighfar and is deeper since taubat implies a promise for the future. By taubat one is both purifying oneself from any sins committed in the past and forswearing to Allah not to commit any sin in the future. Declaring taubat with tears is, to people at Daarut Tauhid, true repentance and earnest forswearing. The taubat is thus made more powerful by tears.

At first glance, the functions of ritual weeping may seem similar to children’s crying which makes their request to their parent more likely to be attended to. In response to this impression, a santri said that what makes the taubat powerful is not the tears per se but the personal quality that generates the tears. The weeping, he explained, has to be generated from the depth of a perfect heart that holds true faith firmly. There is thus no point in pretending to cry in a ritual in order to draw Allah’s attention as is the case with children-to-parent requests. Indeed, according to Ibn Qayyim Al-Jauziyah (cf. As-Sinjari 1994:54), ritual weeping is, for devout Muslims, a means by which to reach Paradise. Al-Jauziyah bases this on the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad who said:

Using analogy, the Prophet Muhammad taught that the sincere tears of faithful Muslims can save them from Hell. It is this teaching of Islam that makes attractive and firm the tradition of ritual weeping at Daarut Tauhid.

Another function of ritual weeping is to intensify one’s religiosity. Muslims at Daarut Tauhid believe that weeping can be viewed by Allah as a form of amal shaleh (good deed). This being so, weeping is thus rewarded by Allah. The more one weeps the more one is rewarded. The more one gains religious merits the more pious one, in turn, becomes. Ritual weeping can therefore make Muslims more and more devoutly religious.

The condition on this function of ritual weeping is that it has to be sincerely motivated by one’s fear of Allah (As-Sinjari 199422-24, Azh-Zhahiry 1994:64-67). To fear Allah means to respect Him, obeying all His commands and avoiding all His prohibitions. In this regard, Muslims at Daarut Tauhid hold that tears would be in vain unless they otherwise reflect one’s proper awe and respect of and one’s loyalty and humility before Allah the Almighty (Azh-Zhahiry 1994:56). It is this kind of weeping that can effectively intensify one’s religiosity.

Ritual weeping, with its all meanings and functions is of profound significance in increasing Daarut Tauhid’s ability to attract followers. Indeed, weeping represents the very power of Daarut Tauhid to satisfy its followers. Daarut Tauhid’s ability to make the followers weep is certainly a novel contribution to the development of Islam today, particularly among the youth.