Virtual Caliphate

Hisbah as a tool for building an Islamic State in Dabiq (2014-2016)

Abstract

This article investigates the consolidation of the Islamic State in the Dabiq magazine published by the group between 2014 and 2016. We started from the expression Virtual Caliphate to analyze, in three movements, how the group's moralizing policy, Hisbah, produced the notion of an organized and functional state. The first movement establishes the Caliphate as the object of political conflicts and theological disputes. Second, the virtual can be understood as a faculty produced by real elements, such as computer software. And thirdly, the virtual also refers to becoming, whose consolidation is so plausible that its existence can be considered in certain contexts. With that, we propose that, from the moralizing actions narrated in Dabiq, the Islamic State virtualized itself as a Caliphate, delimiting its territories and strengthening its regimentation process.