What exactly is a masjid? Is there a difference between a masjid, musallâ, and jamât khâna, etc? These are questions which need detailed discussion.
Nowadays, in the west, many Islamic Centers being managed include, among other things, a prayer hall, musallâ, or jamât khâna. Some communities rent an industrial unit, a store front, a house, or an apartment in which members of the Muslim community gather to perform congregational prayer (and in many cases social activities). Many communities actually have purchased property which they consider their masjid.
Which of the above can technically be considered a masjid, and what are the related rulings?
There is a difference between a masjid and a musallâ (or jamât khâna). A musalla (or jamât khâna) literally means a place where prayer is performed or where congregations are held, or worded differently, any temporary place in which worshippers congregate to perform their prayers. A musalla is also a place that has not been made an endowment or not yet intended to become a permanent masjid until the Last Day. In many cases, it is a temporary place from which the community will transfer once they find a more suitable, convenient, or permanent location. Though Muslims today commonly refer to their "musallâ" as their "masjid," which the literal meaning of masjid (a place where the prostration is made) allows, a musallâ cannot technically be considered a legal [shar'i] masjid. Likewise the reward for prayer in a musallâ is not the same as in a proper masjid.
