Encyclopedia of Islam

Daawa Party of Iraq

  

179  J

---

ist, Nouri al-Maliki (b. 1950), in May 2006. The 

Daawa Party favors the creation of a government 

based on Islamic law but no longer requires 

that it be ruled by Shii ulama. Its major partner 

(and rival) is the Supreme Council for Islamic 

Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI, changed to Supreme 

Islamic Iraqi Council in 2007), a Shii party that 

was established in Iran by Iraqi exiles during the 

1980s. Like the Daawa Party, its followers had also 

returned to Iraq as soon as Husayn’s government 

had fallen. The strongholds of support for both 

parties are located in the Shii cities of southern 

Iraq, and both enjoy cordial relations with the 

Islamic Republic of Iran.

See also b

aath

 p

arty

; 

commUnism

; 

politics

 

and

i

slam

; s

hiism

.