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Da‘wah or Dawah (Arabic: دعوة) usually denotes the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite" (whose triconsonantal root is د ع ى). A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dā‘ī, plural du‘āt. A dā‘ī is thus a person who invites people to understand Islam through a dialogical process, and may be categorized in some cases as the Islamic equivalent of a missionary, as one who invites people to the faith, to the prayer, or to Islamic life.[1] Dawah must never be undertaken except by an expert specifically trained by highly respected and skilled scholars for that particular purpose.
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In the Qur'an, the term da'wah has other senses. In Sura 30:25 of the Qur'an, it denotes the call to the dead to rise on the Day of Judgment. When used in the Qur'an it generally refers to Allah's invitation to live according to His will. Thus, when used in the first centuries of Islam, it increasingly referred to the content of that message and was sometimes used interchangeably with sharī‘a and dīn.
Da‘wah is also described as the duty to "actively encourage fellow Muslims in the pursuance of greater piety in all aspects of their lives," a definition which has become central to contemporary Islamic thought.[2]
In Islamic theology, the purpose of Da‘wah is to invite people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, to understand the worship of Allah[3] as expressed in the Qur'an and the sunnah of the prophet, as well as to inform them about Muhammad.[2] Da‘wah produces converts to Islam, which in turn grows the strength of the Muslim ummah.[2]
Da'wah or Call towards Allah, is the means by which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad spread the message of the Qur'an to mankind. After Muhammad, his followers or Ummah assume the responsibility of the Dawah to the people of their times.[2] They convey the message of the Qur'an by providing information on why and how the Qur'an preaches monotheism.[4]