Dua
/ˈduː.ɑː/noun
A personal supplication or prayer addressed to God in Islam.
Did you know?Unlike salah, Islam’s formal ritual prayer, dua can be offered spontaneously in any language and for virtually any lawful need.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*ḏʿw
“To call, invoke, or summon; a reconstructed ancestral root”
Pre-Islamic Arabic
Arabic
دعا (daʿā)
“He called, invoked, or appealed to”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
دُعاء (duʿāʾ)
“Calling upon God; supplication or prayer”
Early Islamic period
Arabic
duʿāʾ
“Personal supplication, distinguished from the formal ritual prayer salah”
20th–21st Century
English
dua
“A personal Islamic prayer or supplication”