Religious Satisfaction on Women Doing Fasting for Three Years (Dalail al-Khairat): Motives, Practices, and Challenges

Dalail al-Khairat was originally a book containing the praying and greeting to the Prophet Muhammad written by Sulaiman al-Jazuli at a pesantren in Jekulo, Kudus. It was republished in the form of regular recitation, known as the “wiridan’ along with the obligation to engage in continuous fasting for consecutive of three years but in two main Muslims’ festivities. This research raised three main questions: what are sources of knowledge and practices of three years of fasting among female students; what factors motivated female students to practice fasting for three years and what were the challenges encountered? And what is the impact of the three-year fasting practice towards these female Muslims’ religiosity? Our research reveals that this kind of fasting has become a routine activity and they started all over again should the fasting was cancelled. In addition, the wiridan, a special recitation was a challenge for female students, in which they are not allowed to break from the recitation had they are aging due to menstruation. The other important finding suggests that this kind of fasting is carried out by students because it departs from ideological and pragmatic interests; meanwhile the impact of the implementation of the fast is lahiriyah (outward) and bathiniyyah (inward). Outwardly the students are more likely to succeed in the learning process and facilitated all matters. While from the inward, it appears that there is religious satisfaction felt by the students after undergoing it.