Jama'at Khana

Jamatkhana (from Persian: جماعت‌خانه‎‎, literally "congregational place") is an amalgamation derived from the Arabic word jama‘a (gathering) and the Persian word khana (house, place). It is a term used by some Muslim communities around the world to denote a place of gathering. Among some communities of Muslims, the term is often used interchangeably with the Arabic word Musallah (a place of worship that has not been formally sanctified as a masjid or is a place that is being temporarily used as a place of worship by a Muslim). The Nizārī Ismā'īlī community uses the term Jama'at Khana to denote their places of worship.

The Jamatkhana as a place of gathering and worship

While the masjid (literally: the place of a Muslim's sujood or prostration before God) or mosque (in English) is the term used by the Qur'an to denote the primary space of salaat (communal Muslim prayers), a range of spaces for Islamic communal purposes can be currently found throughout the Muslim world. Some are concentrated within particular geographic regions while others are in use by specific communities. Some of these include: husayniyas (also known as ashurkhanas,imambaras,matams, or tekiyas) used by Ithna ‘Ashari Shi‘i communities; ''khanaqas,ribats,tekkes and zawiyas used by mystically-oriented Muslim communities commonly referred to as Sufis; the cemevi of the Turkish Alevis; and the majlis and khalwas of the Druze. For Nizārī Ismā'īlīs, the primary space of religious and social gathering is the jamatkhana. The term jamatkhana is also used to refer to spaces used by a number of other Muslim communities with bases in South Asia, such as the Chisti Sufi tariqa, and various branches of the Musta’li Ismaili community including the Dawoodi Bohras and Alevi Bohras.