Quranic root
دعو
d · ʿ · w
The root centers on drawing something toward oneself through speech or sound: calling, summoning, asking, or inviting.
From this central idea develop supplication and invocation, calling people toward a way, claims and asserted affiliation, reciprocal calling and assembly, and figurative senses of attraction, inducement, or successive collapse.
- Maqāyīs · row 1772
- Mufradāt · row 474
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 15
- Quran senses
- 212
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
دَعَا
daʿā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 170 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To call, summon, or invite someone or a group; to call people toward a way or course.
The object may be a person, group, or course of action; the construction with إِلَى expresses calling or inviting toward something.
- Lane · entry 740
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:104word 4
“inviting”
To pray to, supplicate, petition, or invoke God, seeking a benefit or relief.
This includes humble petition and calling upon God in hardship; لِ may introduce a prayer for someone, while عَلَى may introduce an imprecation against someone.
- Lane · entry 740
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:68word 2
“Pray”
To call upon someone or something for aid or support.
In this use the object is summoned as an aid or witness, as in calling helpers to one's assistance.
- Lane · entry 740
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:23word 13
“and call”
To call out for, or utter a cry concerning, a named thing or outcome.
The construction may express a lament or a cry for a specified fate, including calling for ruin or destruction; this is distinct from ordinary interpersonal summoning.
- Mufradāt · row 474
- Lane · entry 753
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:14word 2
“call”
To call or draw someone away, with the resulting sense of bringing punishment, destruction, or an evil event upon him.
This figurative Quran-attested use is interpreted in more than one closely related way: drawing away, bringing to punishment, or destroying.
- Lane · entry 740
Selected Quran examples
Quran 70:17word 1
“Inviting”
اِدَّعَى
āiddaʿā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To claim, assert, or maintain that something belongs to oneself, is true, or is due to oneself; to demand it as a claim.
The claim may be true or false and may be directed against another person or concern a thing asserted as one's own.
- Lane · entry 746
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 67:27word 13
“call”
To desire, request, or seek something, especially to demand or wish for its arrival.
In the Quranic passages where the form is explained in this sense, the desired thing may be something sought or hastened; an alternate interpretation at 67:27 takes the wording as denial or disbelief rather than desire.
- Lane · entry 746
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
دَاعٍ
dāʿin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 7 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A caller, summoner, or inviter; especially one who calls people toward a way or religion.
The participle can designate a caller generally or one who summons others to a religious or moral course.
- Lane · entry 759
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:46word 1
“And as one who invites”
Quran 20:108word 3
“the caller”
دَعْوَىٰ
daʿwāā
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A claim, assertion, demand, or plea concerning something.
The word may denote a claim whether true or false, including a demand or case brought forward.
- Lane · entry 751
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:5word 3
“their plea”
A prayer, call, plea, or cry.
In Quranic usage the noun can denote a supplication or a cry uttered by people in distress, as well as a concluding call or prayer.
- Lane · entry 751
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
دَعْوَة
daʿwah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A call, invocation, supplication, or invitation.
The noun may refer to the act or occasion of calling upon God, calling someone, or inviting people toward a matter.
- Lane · entry 748
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:186word 8
“(to the) invocation”
Quran 13:14word 2
“(is) supplication”
A claim or asserted affiliation.
The lexical branch of دعوة associated with دعوى denotes an assertion of a relation or of a matter belonging to someone; the Quranic context may render it as a claim.
- Mufradāt · row 474
- Lane · entry 748
Selected Quran examples
Quran 40:43word 8
“a claim”
دُعَاء
duʿāʾ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 22 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Prayer, supplication, or invocation addressed to God.
The noun may denote a petition, plea, or invocation; with لِ it can express a blessing or prayer for good, and with عَلَى an imprecation.
- Lane · entry 753
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:38word 15
“(of) the prayer”
A call, cry, or act of calling out.
This includes a cry or call that may be heard by others, including an urgent call for help or a call whose force is illustrated by the cry of someone unable to hear or respond.
- Lane · entry 753
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:171word 11
“calls”
Addressing or calling someone by name.
In the construction دعاء الرسول, the noun concerns the manner of addressing the Messenger, contrasted with ordinary mutual calling by name.
- Mufradāt · row 474
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:63word 3
“(the) calling”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 212 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 48 Classical meanings
دَعَا
To seek, desire, ask for, or demand something.
A general Classical use of the verb, including requesting that an object be brought.
- Lane · entry 740
دَعَا
To request or require that a book, writing, or other thing be brought; to desire something on perceiving it.
The construction دَعَا بِ expresses requesting or requiring the object.
- Lane · entry 740
دَعَا
To need, require, or be in need of something.
Used of a thing, condition, or circumstance that calls for repair, replacement, or provision.
- Lane · entry 740
دَعَا
To invite people to eat or to a meal at one's home.
This is the conventional invitation-to-food use of the verb.
- Lane · entry 740
- Lane · entry 748
دَعَا
To draw, attract, induce, lead, or drive someone toward an action or place.
The subject may be an event, circumstance, or object that causes someone to seek or move toward something.
- Lane · entry 740
دَعَا المَيِّتَ
To lament, mourn, or call upon a dead person while praising or enumerating his qualities.
This idiom denotes wailing for or deploring the dead rather than ordinary summoning.
- Lane · entry 740
اِدَّعَى
To claim a relationship or lineage, especially to claim someone as one's father or son when the relationship is not biological.
The claim may be made by either party and may be true or false; in warfare it can include asserting one's own lineage.
- Lane · entry 746
- Lane · entry 750
- Lane · entry 754
أَدْعَى
To cause someone to assert or claim a sonship or family relationship to a person who is not his father.
This is a causative lineage-claim construction, distinct from making the claim oneself.
- Lane · entry 742
دَعَا فِي الضَّرْعِ
To leave some milk in the udder so that it draws or attracts the milk that follows.
The expression is used of retaining a remainder rather than exhausting the udder.
- Lane · entry 740
- Lane · entry 760
دَاعَى
To propose an enigma or riddle to someone, or contend with him by doing so.
The reciprocal or competitive construction concerns riddling and solving enigmas.
- Lane · entry 741
دَاعَى
To ask a person for something repeatedly or excessively until wearying him.
This is a specialized Form III use associated with persistent asking.
- Lane · entry 741
دَاعَى
To pull down or demolish a wall from its sides or foundations.
The construction describes collective action against a wall.
- Lane · entry 741
التَّدَعِّي
The trilling, modulating, or prolonging of a woman's voice while wailing for the dead.
This is a specialized form of lamentation.
- Lane · entry 743
التَّدَاعِي
To call, summon, or convoke one another; hence to gather, league together, or advance collectively against someone.
The reciprocal construction may concern assembling for war, mutual aid, or an enemy's advance from every side.
- Lane · entry 744
التَّدَاعِي
To crack, break apart, collapse, or deteriorate successively; of a building, walls, a sandhill, clouds, or emaciated camels.
The imagery involves one part drawing another after it, whether by progressive collapse, dispersal, or deterioration.
- Lane · entry 744
تَدَاعَوْ بِالأَلْقَابِ
To call one another by surnames or nicknames.
The reciprocal construction concerns mutual forms of address.
- Lane · entry 744
التَّدَاعِي
To test or challenge one another with riddles or enigmas.
This is the Form VI reciprocal counterpart of proposing an enigma.
- Lane · entry 744
يَتَدَاعَوْنَ
To compete with one another in discourse, especially in eloquence and refined speech.
The expression presents the competitors as challenging one another in verbal skill.
- Lane · entry 744
تَدَاعَوْا القَوْمَ
To call people together collectively.
The transitive Form VI construction has a plural subject jointly performing the calling.
- Lane · entry 744
اِنْدَعَى
To answer, reply, respond, or assent when called.
The form may describe readiness to respond to a summons.
- Lane · entry 745
اِسْتَدْعَى
To call for, demand, require, or invite a thing.
The Form X verb is a derived request or summons and is distinct from the pointer-only citation of its entry.
- Lane · entry 747
دَعْوَة
A single act or occurrence of prayer or imprecation.
Here دَعْوَة is a verbal noun or simple substantive denoting one instance.
- Lane · entry 748
دَعْوَة
The distance covered by a man's or dog's call; also precedence or priority in receiving something.
The word can function as a measure of calling distance or in expressions of priority in distribution.
- Lane · entry 748
الدَّعْوَة
The call to prayer.
This is the conventional religious office or act of summoning people to prayer.
- Lane · entry 748
دَعْوَة
A call or invitation to Islam or to the declaration of faith.
The expression may denote an invitation to a religion or specifically to affirm God's unity.
- Lane · entry 748
دَعْوَة
An invitation to food, drink, a repast, feast, or banquet.
In this sense the noun can denote either the invitation or the meal occasion to which one is invited.
- Lane · entry 748
دَعْوَة
A confederation or alliance for mutual aid.
The expression describes the group with which a person is allied or affiliated for assistance.
- Lane · entry 748
دِعْوَة
Kindred, relationship, or brotherhood among a people.
This is the relationship sense of the noun, distinct from a claim asserting such a relationship.
- Lane · entry 750
دُعْوِيّ
No one present or no person in a place.
This rare adjective is used only in negative sentences and is explained as there being no one who calls out.
- Lane · entry 752
دُعَاء
Adoration, worship, or religious service.
A Classical extension of supplication to religious worship generally.
- Lane · entry 753
دُعَاء
Faith or belief, especially belief in God, revelation, and the messengers.
This meaning is reported as an exegetical and theological usage rather than the ordinary sense of the noun.
- Lane · entry 753
دُعَاء
A calling or crying for aid or succour.
This is a specialized cry for assistance, broader than a formal prayer.
- Lane · entry 753
دَعِيّ
A person invited to a repast or meal.
The noun denotes the invited guest in this specialized usage.
- Lane · entry 754
دَعِيّ
An adopted son or a person claimed as a son by someone who is not his biological father.
The word can describe either the claimant or the person claimed, according to the construction.
- Lane · entry 754
دَعِيّ
A person whose origin, lineage, or parentage is suspected.
This meaning concerns doubtful or questioned parentage and is distinct from the act of claiming relationship.
- Lane · entry 754
دَعَّاء
One who prays, supplicates, or calls often or excessively.
The intensive form expresses frequent or repeated performance of the underlying action.
- Lane · entry 757
الدَّعَّاءَة
The forefinger, regarded as the finger with which one calls or beckons.
This is an epithet whose substantive meaning has predominated.
- Lane · entry 758
دَاعٍ
A punisher.
This is a specialized Classical meaning of the caller noun, distinct from ordinary summoning or invitation.
- Lane · entry 759
دَاعِيَةُ اللَّبَنِ
The remainder of milk left in the udder to draw or attract what follows.
The expression advises not exhausting the milk completely.
- Lane · entry 760
دَاعِيَة
A means, cause, or motive that draws or induces an action.
This figurative noun denotes an inducement or motivating cause.
- Lane · entry 760
دَاعِيَة
The cry of horsemen in battle used to call for aid.
The meaning is figurative from the calling function of the noun.
- Lane · entry 760
دَوَاعِي الصَّدْرِ
The anxieties or troubling impulses of the breast.
This is a figurative plural expression for inner concerns.
- Lane · entry 760
دَوَاعِي الدَّهْرِ
The vicissitudes or changes of fortune.
The expression figuratively presents events as causes that draw circumstances onward.
- Lane · entry 760
أُدْعِيَّة
An enigma or riddle, including one composed in verse.
The noun belongs to the lexical branch of challenging or drawing out an answer through a riddle.
- Lane · entry 762
مَدَاعٍ
Causes of glory, memorable qualities, or generous achievements, especially in war.
The plural occurs in the expression pairing means of attaining elevation with causes for honorable renown.
- Lane · entry 763
مُدَّعًى
Property or a matter claimed by a claimant.
The related construction مُدَّعًى بِهِ denotes the thing claimed, while مُدَّعًى عَلَيْهِ denotes the person against whom the claim is made.
- Lane · entry 766
مُدَّعًى عَلَيْهِ
A defendant or person against whom a property claim or lawsuit is brought.
This is a legal specialization of the passive-derived expression.
- Lane · entry 766
مُدَّعٍ
A claimant or plaintiff in a property matter or lawsuit.
The active participle denotes the person making the claim.
- Lane · entry 767
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form VIII Quranic passages admit closely related interpretive alternatives between claiming, desiring or demanding, and in one passage denying or disbelieving.
The figurative Form I use associated with calling away or destruction has divergent Classical explanations; the artifact preserves the shared draw-away/punitive branch without treating one interpretation as certain.