Islamic jurisprudence, to denote between Dār al-Harb and Dār al- darāwīsh] Word of obscure origin, possibly See Dāwūd. da'awāt] Call, propaganda, invitation, invoca­

Dawsa (Ar.) Literally, 'treading' or 'trampling underfoot'. The term was used in tasawwuf (q.v.) to refer to a ceremony which used to be enacted in Cairo (q.v.) in which the Shaykh (q.v.) of the Sa'dī order would ride a horse over several hundred members of the order without apparent injury to these adherents. The dawsa ceremony has been vividly described in E. W. Lane's book An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Eygptians (see back of this Dictionary for full bibliographical details).