جماعت

What it means

جماعت (jamâ’at) means a group of people, a community, a crowd, or a congregation. The word is Arabic, from the root ج-م-ع (j-m-‘) meaning to gather or assemble, the same root behind اجتماع (ejtema’, gathering or society). In formal and religious contexts جماعت refers specifically to a congregation assembled for communal prayer: نماز جماعت (namâz-e jamâ’at) is the congregational prayer performed in a mosque with an imam leading. In everyday spoken Persian, however, جماعت is used more loosely and often with mild exasperation: این جماعت (in jamâ’at, these people) points to a group the speaker finds collectively amusing, baffling, or frustrating, much like the English phrase this lot.

How to use it

• این جماعت چی می‌خوان؟ (in jamâ’at chi mikhân?) “What do these people want?”
• نماز جماعت بعد از ظهره (namâz-e jamâ’at ba’d az zohr-e) “Congregational prayer is after noon.”
• یه جماعت جلوی در بودن (ye jamâ’at jelo-ye dar budan) “There was a crowd of people at the door.”
• جماعت زیادی اومده بودن (jamâ’at-e ziâdi umade budan) “A large number of people had come.”

Cultural note

The religious meaning of جماعت is deeply embedded in Iranian public life. Mosque loudspeakers call the faithful to نماز جماعت five times a day in cities and villages alike, and attending congregational prayer is regarded as carrying extra spiritual merit compared to praying alone. Outside the mosque the word shifts register easily, and Iranians use این جماعت in casual conversation to describe any group of people they are commenting on from a slight distance, a subtle shift that shows how religious vocabulary can blend into everyday speech.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab