Dawah

Da‘wah usually denotes proselytizing of Islam. The Arabic دعوة da‘wah means literally "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon, to invite" (whose triconsonantal root is د ع و). 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.

In Early Islam

In the Qur'ān, the term dawah has other senses. In Sura 30 of the Qur'ān, it denotes the call to the dead to rise from the tomb on the Day of Judgment. When used in the Qur'ān it generally refers to God'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.

Purposes of Da‘wah

In Islamic theology, the purpose of Da‘wah is to "invite" people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, to understand the worship of God as expressed in the Qur'ān, as well as to inform them about Muhammad. As directed to non-Muslims, it consists of explaining Islam through acts, discussions and dialogue.

Notes

References

• Encyclopedia of Islam. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
• Hirschkind, Charles (2004). "Civic Virtue and Religious Reason: An Islamic Counter-Public" in Drobnick, Jim Aural Cultures. ISBN 0-920397-80-8.
• The Multiple Nature of the Islamic Da'wa, Egdūnas Račius, Academic Dissertation, October 2004. University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Asian and African Studies.