Dawah in the context of Converting to Islam

Muhammad (c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, military and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed by Muslims to be the Seal of the Prophets, and along with the Quran, his teachings and normative examples form the basis for Islamic religious belief.

According to the traditional account, Muhammad was born in Mecca to the aristocratic Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh. He was the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. His father, Abdullah, the son of tribal leader Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, died around the time Muhammad was born. His mother Amina died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal uncle, Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer. When he was 40, in c. 610, Muhammad reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first revelation from God. In 613, Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "submission" (Islām) to God (Allāh) is the right way of life (dīn), and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, similar to other prophets in Islam.

Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (Arabic: عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ أَبِي قُحَافَةَ, romanized: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʾAbī Quḥāfa) (c. 573 – 23 August 634), better known by his kunya Abu Bakr, was a senior companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 632 until his death in 634. Abu Bakr was granted the honorific title al-Ṣiddīq (lit. the Veracious) by Muhammad, a designation that continues to be used by Sunni Muslims to this day.

Born to Abu Quhafa and Umm al-Khayr of the Banu Taym, Abu Bakr was among the earliest converts to Islam and propagated dawah to the Mushrikites. He was considered the first Muslim missionary, as several companions of Muhammad converted through Abu Bakr. He accompanied Muhammad on his migration to Medina and became one of his bodyguards. Abu Bakr participated in all of Muhammad's campaigns and served as the first amir al-hajj in 631. In the absence of Muhammad, Abu Bakr led the prayers.

A da'i (Arabic: داعي, romanized: dāʿī, lit. 'inviter, caller', [ˈdæːʕi(ː)]) is generally someone who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam.

Dāʿī the inviter or summoner, i.e. the one who invites to true religion, as God says: "And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a luminous lamp" (33:46).

Conversion to Islam, also known within Islam as reversion, is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. Conversion requires a formal statement of the shahādah, the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is none worthy of worship in truth except Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah". Proselytism of the faith is referred to as "dawah", and missionary efforts have been promoted since the dawn of the religion in the 7th century.

The following list consists of notable concepts that are derived from Islamic and associated cultural (Arab, Persian, Turkish) traditions, which are expressed as words in Arabic or Persian language. The main purpose of this list is to disambiguate multiple spellings, to make note of spellings no longer in use for these concepts, to define the concept in one or two lines, to make it easy for one to find and pin down specific concepts, and to provide a guide to unique concepts of Islam all in one place.

Separating concepts in Islam from concepts specific to Arab culture, or from the language itself, can be difficult. Many Arabic concepts have an Arabic secular meaning as well as an Islamic meaning. One example is the concept of dawah. Arabic, like all languages, contains words whose meanings differ across various contexts.

The Alavi Bohras are a Tayyibi Musta'lavi Isma'ili Shi'i Muslim community from Gujarat, India. In India, during the time of the 18th Fatimid Imam Al-Mustansir Billah around 1093 AD in Egypt, the designated learned people (wulaat) who were sent from Yemen by missionaries (du'aat) under the guidance of the imam established a da'wah in Khambhat (Gujarat, India).

After the division of the Musta'lid community, the Yemenite Da'wah followed their 21st imam, the son of 20th Imam Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah in the succession of Fatimid Imams of Egypt, At-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim as their Imam of seclusion, and the Bohras are the modern descendants of Tayyibi Da'wah established from Khambhat, Patan and Sidhpur in the 5th century Hijri and also the immigrants from Yemeni Tayyibi Da'wah.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi Al Najdi (1703–1792) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymous founder of the Wahhabi movement.

The label "Wahhabi" is not claimed by his followers but rather employed by Western scholars as well as his critics. Born to a family of jurists, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's early education consisted of learning a fairly standard curriculum of jurisprudence according to the Hanbali school, which was most prevalent in his area of birth. He promoted strict adherence to traditional Islamic law, proclaiming the necessity of returning directly to the Quran and Hadith literature rather than relying on medieval interpretations, and insisted that every Muslim – male and female – personally read and study the Quran. He opposed taqlid (blind following) and called for the use of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning through research of scripture).

The Imams of Yemen, later also titled the Kings of Yemen, were religiously consecrated leaders (imams) belonging to the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and temporal-political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the end of the North Yemen civil war in 1970, following the republican revolution in 1962. Zaidi theology differs from Isma'ilism and Twelver Shi'ism by stressing the presence of an active and visible imam as leader. The imam was expected to be knowledgeable in religious scholarship, and to prove himself a worthy headman of the community, even in battle if this was necessary. A claimant of the imamate would proclaim a "call" (dawah), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant.

Musta'li Isma'ilism (Arabic: المستعلية, romanized: al-Mustaʿliyya) is a branch of Isma'ilism named for their acceptance of al-Musta'li as the legitimate ninth Fatimid caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir Billah (r. 1036–1094/1095). The Nizari the other living branch of Ismailism, led by Aga Khan V believe the ninth caliph was al-Musta'li's elder brother, Nizar.

The Musta'li originated in Fatimid-ruled Egypt, later moved its religious center to Yemen, and gained a foothold in 11th-century Western India through missionaries.

In classical Islamic law, there are two major divisions of the world which are dar al-Islam (lit. 'territory of Islam'), denoting regions where Islamic law prevails, and dar al-harb (lit. territory of war), denoting lands which have not concluded an armistice with dar al-Islam and lands that were once a part of the dar al-Islam, but no longer are. Muslims regard Islam as a universal religion and believe it to be the rightful law for all humankind. Muslims are imposed to spread Sharia law and sovereignty through lesser jihad against dar al-harb. According to Islam, this should first be attempted peacefully through Dawah. In the case of war, Muslims are imposed to eliminate fighters until they surrender or seek peace and pay the Jizya if subdued.

The Arabic singular form dar (دار), translated literally, may mean "house", "abode", "structure", "place", "land", or "country". In Islamic jurisprudence it often refers to a part of the world. The notions of "houses" or "divisions" of the world in Islam such as dar al-Islam and dar al-harb does not appear in the Quran or the hadith. According to Abou El Fadl, the only dars the Quran speaks of are "the abode of the Hereafter and the abode of the earthly life, with the former described as clearly superior to the latter".

Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (JAS, Arabic: جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, romanised: Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, lit. 'Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad') and sometimes referred to as its state name Daular Musulunci, is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group split, resulting in the emergence of a hostile faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002, the group was led by Abubakar Shekau from 2009 until his death in 2021, although it splintered into other groups after Yusuf's death in 2009, as well as in 2015. When the group was first formed, their main goal was to "purify", the Sunni Islam in northern Nigeria, believing jihad should be delayed until the group was strong enough to overthrow the Nigerian government. The group formerly aligned itself with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has been known for its brutality, and since the insurgency started in 2009, Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people, in frequent attacks against the police, armed forces and civilians. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of more than 300,000 children and has displaced 2.3 million from their homes. Boko Haram has contributed to regional food crises and famines.