Year founded 2014 | Final issue
— Number 31 July 2016
15 | |
Categories Online magazine for propaganda Frequency Variable (mostly monthly) Founder Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant First issue July 5, 2014 (2014-07-05) | ||
Dabiq (Arabic: دابق) was an online magazine used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for propaganda and recruitment. It was first published in July 2014 in a number of different languages including English. Dabiq itself states the magazine is for the purposes of unitarianism, truth-seeking, migration, holy war and community (tawhid, manhaj, hijrah, jihad and jama'ah respectively).
In September 2016, ISIL replaced Dabiq with another online magazine, Rumiyah (Arabic for Rome), published in English and other languages. Analysts speculated this was due to ISIL being driven out of the town of Dabiq by the Turkish Military and Syrian Rebels in October 2016. The new title refers to an Islamic prophecy about the fall of Rome.
Details
Dabiq was published by ISIL via the deep web, although it was widely available online through other sources. The first issue carried the date "Ramadan 1435" in the Islamic Hijri calendar. According to the magazine, its name was taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a hadith about Armageddon. ISIL believes Dabiq is where Muslim and infidel forces will eventually face each other. After the crusader forces' defeat, the apocalypse will begin. Every issue of Dabiq contained a quote attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: "The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify –by Allah’s permission- until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq".
Harleen K. Gambhir of the Institute for the Study of War considered that while al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's magazine Inspire focuses on encouraging its readers to carry out lone-wolf attacks on the West, Dabiq was more concerned with establishing the religious legitimacy of ISIL and its self-proclaimed caliphate, and encouraging Muslims to emigrate there. In its October 2014 issue, an article outlined religious justifications for slavery and praised its revival.
ISIL has used its Dabiq magazine to express its strong opposition to groups including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Shia Muslims and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Clarion Project produced a website on Dabiq, which says it is published to recruit people to extremist jihadism, and describes it as a "glossy propaganda magazine ... sophisticated, slick, beautifully produced".