Musalla

This article is about Islamic small prayer spaces. For the peak, see Musala. For the glacier, see Musala Glacier.

For the mat used for prayer, see Prayer rug.

A musalla (Arabic: مصلى, romanized: muṣallá) is a space apart from a mosque, mainly used for prayer in Islam.^[1] The word is derived from the verb صلى (ṣallā), meaning "to pray". It is traditionally used for twice-yearly Eid prayers and for funeral prayers as per the Sunnah.

Fatihova Musalla

Muslim prayer section (Musalla) at Hong Kong International Airport

“Musalla” may also refer to a room, structure, or place for performing salah (canonical prayers), and this is also translated as a “prayer hall” when smaller than a mosque. It is often used for conducting the five mandatory daily prayers, or other prayers in (or without) a small congregation, but not for large congregational worship such as the Friday Prayers or the Eid Prayers (the latter is done in congregational mosques if there is no available musalla, in the original sense of an open space). Such musallas are usually present in airports, malls, universities, and other public places in Muslim-majority countries, as well as in some non-Muslim countries for the use of Muslims. A musalla will usually not contain a minbar.

See also

• Eidgah
• Mosque
• Surau, equivalent structure in Malay-speaking countries
• Jama'at Khana

References

1. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Brill, Leiden. Vol. 7, pg. 658; al-mausūʿa al-fiqhiyya. Kuwait 1998. Vol. 38, pg 29