(also transliterated daawa(h); "invitation") means the proselytizing or preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being a gerund of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite" (whose triconsonantal root is d-ʕ-w ). A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a (, plural / ).