Hojat-ol-Islam Mohammad Reza Nejatifard, head of the Itikaf committee of Al-Mustafa International University’s expatriate students, said that last year, some 600 foreign seminary students from 70 countries attended the spiritual ritual on the last days of the holy month of Ramadan.
He said that number is going to be over 900 students from nearly 100 countries this year.
There will be 650 male and 250 female seminary students participating in the Itikaf ritual, Hojat-ol-Islam Nejatifard added.
According to the official, there are some 70,000 foreign students from 125 countries studying Islamic in different branches of the international university.
He went on to say that this year’s Itikaf will be held at Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine on the 24th to 26th days of Ramadan.
Itikaf, in the Islamic faith, is a particularly commended pious practice consisting of a period of retreat in a mosque, for a certain number of days in accordance with the believer’s own wish.
Those taking part in the spiritual ritual sit in mosques and fast and pray the almighty God during the three days of Itikaf.