Note: The table is populated with data obtained from the Quran.corpus.com., and `a represents the Arabic letter, ayn.
Out of 212 instances of da`aa and its derived forms, 53 instances of da`aa found in 46 verses of 9 surahs in the Quran are already reviewed, while 54 instances of da`aa found in 49 verses of 17 surahs are detailed out below to better understand their meaning in different contexts, keeping in mind that an Arabic word may have different meanings in different contexts:
- Details of instances of da`aa in verb form I meaning to pray, call or invite
[13:14] To Him is a call of the truth; and those whom they call other than Him (wa-alladheena yad’`uuna min duunihi), cannot respond to them with a thing, except like whoever stretches his hands towards the water to reach his mouth, but it is not of its reach. And a call of the disbelievers is not except in straying.
[13:36] And those whom we have given the scripture to rejoice at what has been sent down to you (prophet); while of the parties there is whoever denies a part of it. Say, “I have only been commanded that I worship God, and I do not associate partners with Him. To Him I call (ilayhi ad’`uu) and to Him is my return.”
[14:9] Did not come to you a news of those who were before of you – a people of Noah, and Aad, and Thamud, and those who were after of them? None knows them except God. There had come to them their messengers with the clear proofs, then they had turned back having their hands in their mouth and said, “Indeed, we have disbelieved in what you have been sent with it, and indeed, we are surely in doubt about what you invite us to it being distrustful (wa-innaa lafee shakkin mimmaa ilayhi mureebin).”
[14:10] Their messengers said, “Is there any doubt in God as Creator of the heavens and the earth? He invites you that He may forgive for you of your sins, and may give you respite to an appointed time (yad’`uukum li’yaghfira lakum min dhunuubikum wa-yuakhirakum ilaa alajin musamman).” They said, “You are not except a human like ourselves wish to hinder us from what had done our forefathers to worship. So, come to us with a clear authority.”
[14:22] And has said the Satan when the matter has been decided (on a day of Judgment), “Indeed, God has promised you a promise of the truth, and I had promised you that I have betrayed you. And it has not been that I had any power over you except that I had invited you (illaa an da`wtukum), then you responded to me. So, you do not blame me, and you shall blame yourselves. Neither I can be of your helper, nor can you be of my helper. Indeed, I had disbelieved in what you have associated me (with God) before. Indeed, the wrongdoers, for them there is a painful punishment.”
[16:20] And those whom they call other than God (wa-alladheena yad’`uuna min duuni allahi), they do not create anything, and they are created.
[16:86] And when those who have associated partners will see their partners, they have said, “Our Lord, these are our partners those whom we had done to call other than You (Rabbanaa haaulaai shurakaaunaa alladheena kunnaa nad’`uu min duunika).” Then they have sent back the word at them, “Indeed, you are surely liars.”
[16:125] You (prophet) shall call to a path of your Lord with the wisdom and the good advice (ud’`u ilaa sabeeli rabbika bil-hikmati wal-maw’izati al-hasanati), and shall debate with them in that which is best. Indeed, your Lord – He is Knower of whoever has gone astray from His path, and He is Knower of the guided ones.
[17:11] And the human being calls for the evil at his call for the good (wa-yad’`u al-insaanu bil-shari du`aa-ahu bil-khayri), as the human being has been very hasty.
[17:52] A day He will call you and you will respond with His praise and will think (yawma yad’`uukum fa-tastajeebuuna bil-hamdihi wa-tazunnuuna) you had not stayed except for a little while.
[17:56] Say: “You shall call those whom you have claimed other than Him (id’`uu alladheena za`amtum min duunihi) that they have no power for removal of the misfortune from you, nor of transferring (it).”
[17:57] Those whom they call to seek as the means to their Lord, which of them is nearest (ulaaika alladheena yad’`uuna yab’taghuuna ilaa rabbihimu al-waseelata ayyuhum aqrabu), while they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, your Lord’s punishment has been to be feared.
[17:67] And when the hardship has touched you in the sea, there has gone away whom you call except Him alone (dalla man tad’`uuna illaa iyyaahu). Then when He has delivered you to the land, you have turned away. And it has been ungrateful the human.
[17:71] A day we will call all human beings with their record (yawma nad’`uu kulla unaasin bi-imaamihim). Then, whoever has been given his record in his right hand, then those will read their record, and they will not be wronged like a thin covering on a date seed.
[17:110] Say: “Call God (id’`uu allaha) or call the Gracious (awi id’`uu al-rahmaana). Whatever you call (ayyan maa tad’`uu), then to Him belongs the beautiful names. And do (prophet) not be loud in your salat prayers, nor do you be silent in them, and you shall use a path between that.
[18:14] And we had strengthened of their hearts when they had stood up, then they said: “Our Lord is Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never call any god other than Him (lan nad’`uwaa min duunihi ilaahan). That certainly, we would have said, then it would be a great wickedness.”
[18:28] And you (prophet) shall be patient for yourself with those who call their Lord in the morning and the evening, desiring His pleasure (alladheena tad’`uuna rabbahum bil-ghadati wal-`ashiyi). And let not turn your eyes from them desiring an adornment of the life of the world, and you do not obey whomever we have made heedless his heart from our remembrance, and he has followed his desire, and has been excess in his affair.
[18:52] And a day He will say, “Call upon My partners (naaduu shurakaaiya), those whom you had claimed.” Then they will call upon them (fa-da`awhum), but they will not respond to them. And we will make a barrier between themselves.
[18:57] And who is more wicked than whoever has been reminded with his Lord’s revelations but he has turned away from them, while he has forgot what has sent forth his hands. Indeed, we have placed covering on their hearts lest they understand it (Quran), and deafness in their ears, and if you (prophet) invite them to the guidance (wa-in tad’`uhum ilaa al-hudaa), they will never ever be guided.
[19:48] And I (Abraham) will abandon you and what you call other than God (wa-a`tazilukum wa-maa tad’`uuna min duuni allahi) and I will call my Lord (wa-ad’`uu rabbii). It may have been that I would not be an unblessed to my Lord in a call.”
[19:91] That they have ascribed a son to the Gracious (an da`aw lil’rah’maani waladan).
[21:90] So, we had responded to him (Zakaria) and had granted him John; we had cured his wife for him. They had been to hasten in the good deeds, and they would call us in hope and fear (wa-yad’`uunanaa raghaban wa-rahaban). And they had been reverent to us.
[22:12] He calls other than God what can neither harm him, nor can benefit him (yad’`uu min duuni allahi maa laa-yadurruhu wa-maa laa-yanfa`uhu). That – it is the faraway straying.
[22:13] He calls whoever is closer his harm than his benefit (yad’`uu laman aq’rabu min naf’`ihi). Surely, it has been the evil protector and surely, it has been the evil friend.
[22:62] That is of that is God: He is the Truth, and that what they call other than Him (wa-an maa yad’`uuna min duunihi) – it is the falsehood, and that is God: He is the High, the Great.
[22:67] For every community we have made a rite, they are observant of it. So, it does not dispute with you (prophet) about the matter, and you shall invite to your Lord (wa-ud’`u ilaa rabbika). Indeed, you are surely on a straight guidance.
[22:73] O the people, it has been set forth an example; so, you shall listen to it. Indeed, those whom you call other than God (inna alladheena tad’`uuna min duuni allahi), cannot create a fly, even if they had gathered together for it. And if the fly snatches away a thing from them, they cannot take it back from it; it has been weak the seeker and the sought.
[23:73] And indeed, you (prophet) surely invite them to a straight path (wa-innaka la’tad’`uuhum ilaa siraatin mus’taqeemin).
[23:117] And whoever calls another god with God without a proof for him in it (wa-man yad’`u ma`a allahu ilaahan aakhara laa-bur’haana lahu bihi), then indeed, his reckoning is with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed.
[24:48] And when they have been invited to God and His messenger to judge between themselves (wa-idhaa du`uu ilaa allahi wa-rasuulihi li’yah’kuma baynahum), after a group of them is averse.
[24:51] It has only been saying of the believers when they have been invited to God and His messenger to judge between themselves (idhaa du`uu ilaa allahi wa-rasuulihi li’yah’kuma baynahum) is that they say, “We have heard and we have obeyed.” And those – they are the successful ones.
[25:13] And when they have been thrown into it through a narrow place being shackled, they have called then for destruction (da`aw hunaalika thubuuran).
[25:14] You do not call today for a single destruction (laa-tad’`uu al-yawma thubuuran waahidan) but you shall call for many destruction (wa-id’`uu thubuuran katheeran).
[25:68] And those who do not call another god with God (wa-alladheena laa-tad’`uuna ma`a allahi ilaahan aakhara), nor do they kill the soul which God has forbidden except in the justice, nor do they commit adultery, while whoever does that will face a penalty.
[26:72] He (Abraham) said, “Do they (idols) hear you when you call (hal yas’ma`uunakum idh tad’`uuna)?
[26:213] So, do not call another god with God (fa-laa-tad’`u ma`a allahi ilaahan aakhara), lest you (Muhammad) would be with the punished ones.
[27:62] Who responds to the distressed one when he has called Him (a-man yujeebu al-mud’tara idhaa da`aahu), while He removes the evil and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there any god with God? Little is what you remember.
[28:25] Then there had come to him one of the two women walking upon shying. She said, “Indeed, my father calls you to recompense you a reward for that you have watered for us (inna abee yad’`uuka li’yaj’ziyaka aj’ra saqayta lanaa).” So when he had come to him and had narrated the story, he said, “Do not fear. You have escaped from the people of the wrongdoers.”
[28:41] And we have made them leaders (Pharaoh and his people) to invite to the Fire (wa-ja`alnaahum a-immatan yad’`uuna ilaa al-naari), and a day of the Resurrection they will not be helped.
[28:64] And it has been said, “Call your partners (id’`uu shurakaa-akum).” Then they have called them, but they do not respond to them (fa-da`awhum fa-lam yas’tajeebuu lahum). While they have seen the punishment, if that they had been guided.
[28:87] Nor let prevent you (prophet) from verses of God, after when they have been sent down to you, and you shall invite to your Lord (wa-id’`u ilaa rabbika), and not to be with the idol worshipers.
[28:88] Nor to call another god with God (wa-laa-tad’`u ma`a allahi ilaahan); there is no god except He. Everything is ending except He Himself. To Him belongs the judgment and to Him you will be returned.
[29:42] Indeed, God knows what they call anything other than Him (inna allaha ya`lamu maa yad’`uu min duunihi min shayin), and He is the Almighty, the Wise.
[29:65] Then when they have embarked in the ship, they call God being sincere to Him in the religion (da`awuu allaha mukh’liseena lahu al-deeni). Then when He has delivered them to the shore, after they associate partners (with Him).
[30:25] And of His signs is that there stands the heaven and the earth by His command. Then when He has called you a call out of the earth (thumma idhaa da`aakum da`watan mina al-ardi), after you will come forth.
[30:33] And when an adversity had afflicted the people, they called their Lord being turned to Him (da`aw rabbahum muneebeena ilayhi). Then when He has made them to taste mercy from Him, after a party of them associate partners with their Lord.
[31:21] And when it has been said to them, “You shall follow what God has sent down,” they said, “Nay, we will follow what we have found our forefathers on it.” And if had it been the Satan to call them to a punishment of the Blazing fire (a-wa-law kaana al-shaytaanu yad’`uuhum ilaa `adhaabi al-sa`eeri)?
[31:30] That is of that is God: He is the Truth, and that what they call other than Him is the falsehood (wa-anna maa yad’`uuna min duunihi al-baatilu), and that is God: He is the High, the Great.
[31:32] When a wave had covered them like canopies, they have called God being sincere to Him in the religion (da`awuu allaha mukh’liseena lahum al-deena). But when He has delivered them to the shore, then of them are moderate. And none denies our revelations except every ungrateful traitor.
The core messages from reviewing 54 instances of da`aa found in 49 verses of 17 surahs in the Quran are: our call is to God and those who call other than Him cannot respond their call; the prophet was told to inform the people of scripture that he only calls God and to Him is his return; when the messengers come with the clear proofs and invite the people to a path of God but they turn away having their hands in their ears; on a day of the Judgment the Satan will let his allies know that his promise was a lie, while God’s promise was truth; those whom had been associated as partners with God will say to those who had done that to be liars; the prophet was advised to invite people to a path of God and to debate with them which is best; the human being calls the evil for the good; when the adversity touches, the human being calls his Lord but when it has gone away from him, he has been ungrateful; a day all the people will be called with their records and those who have been given them their records in their right hands will have no fear; a day God will say to those who had called other than Him to call them, then they will call them but they will not respond; God is truth but what they call other than Him is falsehood; those whom are called other than God cannot create a fly and if a fly snatches a thing away from them cannot recover it; the prophet was advised to invite people to what has been sent down to him not to be with the idol worshipers, when it has been said to them to follow what has been sent down to them, they said we followed what we have found our forefathers on it that the Satan called them to a punishment of the Blazing fire.
This review may help understand servants of God to make their efforts that their calls to God will never ever be other than Him to be worshipers of Him following what has been sent down to them, which is a great impediment for the people who claim themselves Muslims all over the world but being included them in Muhammadi, Ahmadi and many other groups, while on a day of the Judgment those whom are called other than God cannot respond, and those who had called other than God cannot escape their punishment.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (05/15/2026).