Two Pieces of Context

Juan Cole has a good posting today on the Democrat's quite unbelievably dimwitted posturing about al-Maliki and his visit to the US. It's well worth reading but there are two pieces of context that you may find helpful to bear in mind as you read it. The first has to do with the word "Dawa" it means the "Call" or the "Invitation" and refers to the duty to invite people to Islam. (I doubt there's a single westerner who's behaved even halfway decently in a Muslim country who hasn't experienced a Muslim suggesting to them that perhaps they should consider becoming a Muslim. There's nothing sinister about this it's a compliment. To put it colloquially "Hey you're one of the good guys why not join us?" ) In the present context it has a further meaning. Maliki's party the Islamic Dawa Party is a revivalist party their agenda is to invite their fellow Muslims to return to a properly Islamic way of life and seek to build a truly Islamic society in order to make this invitation valid. The second point to bear in mind as you read Cole's posting is that to the best of my knowledge and belief Maliki's party is the only one which does not have a militia. markfromireland