Du'a
/ˈduː.ə/noun
A personal supplication or prayer addressed to God in Islam, distinct from the formal ritual prayer called salah.
Did you know?Du'a comes from an Arabic root meaning “to call” or “to summon,” framing prayer as actively calling upon God rather than merely reciting a fixed formula.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*dʿw
“To call, summon, or invoke; the reconstructed ancestral root behind Arabic forms.”
Pre-Islamic Arabic
Arabic
daʿā
“He called, invited, summoned, or invoked.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
duʿāʾ
“A call upon God; supplication or invocation.”
7th Century
Qur'anic Arabic
duʿāʾ
“Supplication or calling upon God, a concept appearing throughout Islamic scripture and religious tradition.”
20th Century
English
du'a
“An English transliteration used for the Islamic practice of personal supplication.”