Virtual Caliphate: Exposing the Islamists State on the Internet

In 1924 the last caliphate—an Islamic state as envisioned by the Koran—was dismantled in Turkey. With no caliphate in existence matching their ideals, al Qaeda and its hundreds of affiliate organizations have failed to achieve their goal of reestablishing radical Islamic rule. Journalist Yaakov Lappin asserts that this failure to create a homeland necessitated the formation of an unforeseen and unprecedented entity: an Islamist "state" on the Internet, the virtual caliphate.

The virtual caliphate is an Islamist state that exists on computer servers around the world. Islamists use it to carry out functions typically reserved for a physical state, such as recruiting an army and training its soldiers, handling foreign affairs, and directing finances. In Virtual Caliphate, Lappin shows how Islamists employ twenty-first-century technology to achieve a seventh-century vision, hoping to soon upload the online state into the physical world. Lappin draws links between online sermons calling for violence and subsequent terror attacks like 2005's London transport bombing, a chilling glimpse of how the virtual caliphate has already moved beyond mere words and videos.

Weaving together hard-to-find resources that often no longer exist online, Lappin captures a recent history of the virtual caliphate for the reader, exposing and demystifying all aspects of the jihadi online netherworld. Virtual Caliphate is a compelling and indispensable guide for anyone interested in understanding the technological aptitude of the global jihadi movement.

Yaakov Lappin is a journalist for the Jerusalem Post. His groundbreaking and exclusive coverage of jihadi activity on the Internet has also appeared in the London Times and Ynetnews, among other media outlets. A number of the author's reports for the London Times focused on an online declaration of war issued by notorious Islamist leaders in Britain six months before the London public transport bombings of 2005.