Da?wa, Al- (Al-Da?wa Al-Islamiyya, "Islamic Call")
DAEWA, AL- (al-Da?wa al-Islamiyya, "Islamic Call")
An Iraqi Shi?ite party, al-Da?wa was founded in 1957 by Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and Monteza al-Askar, with the semi-official financial support of Iran. In 1958, after the fall of the Iraqi monarchy, al-Da?wa opposed the Communist forces present in Iraq, while dissociating itself from other Islamic parties. In 1963, after the Ba?th Party came to power, al-Da?wa went underground. The leaders of the movement sent many Lebanese, who had come to study at Najaf, back to their homeland with the mission of propagating the ideas of al-Da?wa there.
In 1974, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr issued a fatwa forbidding religious students to adhere to any political party, accentuating the isolation of the movement. In 1979 the Iranian Islamic Revolution caused al-Da?wa to come forward and recognize Imam Ruhollah Khomeini as the sole head of the "Islamic nation." The following year, when the Iran-Iraq War broke out, the headquarters of the movement was transferred to Teheran. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was arrested by the Iraqi authorities and executed. Al-Da?wa joined the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a gathering of the Iraqi opposition. In 1982 a Lebanese branch of the movement was created under the impetus of Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah.
SEE ALSO Fadlallah, Shaykh Muhammad Husayn;Hizb al-Da?wa al-Islamiyya;Iran-Iraq War.