Around 100 people sat solemnly inside the grand Dian Al Mahri Mosque in Cinere, Depok, West Java, reciting from the Korans they held in their hands or from the Koran apps on their Smartphones, as Muslims entered the last 10 days of Ramadhan.

Islamic teachings say the last 10 days of Ramadhan is the best time to ask for God'€™s blessing and forgiveness, as well as the best period to undergo a spiritual retreat by spending time in mosques to read and recite from the Koran, a ritual known as i'€™tikaf.

Khaerul Bahri was among the Muslims who devoted their time to the i'€™tikaf this Ramadhan. The 21-year-old sat in the front row with a bottle of water and prepared himself to spend the rest of Ramadhan in the Dian Al Mahri Mosque, which is also popularly called the Kubah Emas (golden dome) mosque.

'€œFrom what I learned the last 10 days are the most blessed days in Ramadhan. It was the month in which the Koran was revealed,'€ he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Khaerul, who came to the mosque with his sister and brother, said he finally had a chance to perform i'€™tikaf this year after having sought the opportunity for a few years. This year'€™s Ramadhan coincidentally falls on the same period as his university'€™s semester break, so he could finally spend his nights in the mosque.

He said he was interested in performing i'€™tikaf in this mosque because it boasts a more solemn ambiance compared to his house. One of the reasons was because there were dozens of other people performing the same religious activity as him.

'€œI am ready to spend the rest of Ramadhan here, reciting the Koran, dzikir (chanting praises to God) and performing prayers. I am not going to leave except when I run out of spare clothes,'€ Khaerul said.

More and more young Muslims are performing the ritual in some other mosques. Muhammad Bagas Irwansyah, 14, said he and his mother, Siti Mahmudah, were performing the i'€™tikaf together for the second time this year.

Bagas and his mother, who live in Magelang, Central Java, said they had been in Jakarta for a few days and would perform i'€™tikaf in various mosques in the capital.

'€œWe can meet new people and visit new mosques. We think that it would be a great experience for us,'€ Bagas told the Post at the Pondok Indah Raya Mosque in South Jakarta, adding that they would return to Magelang three days before Idul Fitri.

Bagas said that in this year'€™s Ramadhan he prayed for better grades at school and health for his family members.

Another Muslim at the Pondok Indah mosque shared a different value of i'€™tikaf. For 25-year-old Muhammad Suhendry, the annual i'€™tikaf had a great impact on his life as he had a better chance to study the Koran during the time he spent at the mosque.

He said spending Ramadhan at the mosque would raise the quality of his religiosity better than attending a breaking-of-the-fast with his friends and relatives.

'€œI often forget to do my compulsory isha [evening] prayer when I gather with some friends. It will not be happen if I spend my time in the mosque,'€ he said.

He added that as the mosque was located near his office in Pondok Indah, he would have some time to rest after spending a night reading the Koran.

'€œI just hope I won'€™t get too sleepy in the office,'€ he said.

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