Editing Aljama (section)

==Etymology and development of the concept==
The word ''aljama'' comes from Arabic and refers to the [[congregational mosque]] of a Muslim community, where believers gather to pray [[jumu'ah]], the communal Friday prayer.<ref name="Diccionari">{{cite book |language=ca |author-last1=Mestre i Campi |author-first1=Jesús |author-last2=Salrach i Marés |author-first2=Josep M |author-last3=Termes |author-first3=Josep |date=1998 |title=Diccionari d'Història de Catalunya |trans-title=Dictionary of the History of Catalonia |page=28 |location=Barcelona |publisher=Edicions 62 |isbn=84-297-3521-6 |oclc=788979334 }}</ref>

The word ''aljama'' is derived from {{langx|ar|جامعة|jāmiʿa|gathering}} plus the definite article {{lang|ar-Latn|al}}. ''Jāmiʿa'' originally meant 'congregation,' 'assembly,' or 'group,' but was, even before the establishment of Spanish rule, applied by the [[Moors]] to their religious bodies and larger [[mosque]]s, and especially to the Jewish communities in the midst of them, and to the [[synagogue]]s and schools which formed the center of all Jewish life. The Christians adopted the term, extending its meaning to designate the [[Jewish quarter (diaspora)|Jewish]] and Muslim quarters. In some Spanish cities, former Jewish quarters are still known by that name, even though the [[expulsion of Jews from Spain|Jews were expelled in 1492]].

Very often, for purposes of distinction, such phrases as {{lang|es|Aljama de los Judíos}} 'Aljama of the Jews' and {{lang|es|Aljama de los Moros}} 'Aljama of the Moors' were used. But the circumstance that the Moors of Spain had by the term designated more especially the Jewish community has left its trace in the use of the word in Spanish; for in Spanish literature {{lang|es|aljama}}, without any further specification, stands for {{lang|es|[[sanhedrin|sanedrín]]}} or {{lang|es|Judería}} (Jewish quarter), or even for Jewish places of worship, in the concrete as well as abstract sense. This use occurs at a very early date. In the "Poem of Alexander", the "Milagros de Nuestra Señora," and the "Duelo de la Virgen" of [[Gonzalo de Berceo]], all of the 13th century, {{lang|es|aljama}} or ''alfama'' is employed to designate the people of ancient [[Jerusalem]]; and the historian of the 16th century, <!--can anyone identify this person further-->Mariana, uses {{lang|es|aljama}} for the synagogue: "they devastated their houses and their {{lang|es|aljamas}}."