It was first published in September 2016 and was released in several languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Indonesian, Bosnian and Uyghur.

Analysts attributed the change of name partly to the imminent loss of the town of Dabiq to a Turkish-led military offensive, which occurred in October 2016.

[7][8] Like Dabiq, each issue opens with a quote attributed to Abu Hamza al-Muhajir: "O muwahhidin, rejoice, for by Allah, we will not rest from our jihad except beneath the olive trees of Rumiyah (Rome).

[1] In October 2016, Islamic State released the second edition of the magazine in which it justified attacks against non-Muslims, including detailed descriptions of how to carry out knife attacks on smaller groups of people and argued that jihadists throughout Muslim history have "struck the necks of the kuffar" (unbelievers) in the name of Allah with "swords, severing limbs and piercing the fleshy meat of those who opposed Islam."

The magazine advised its readers that knives are easy to obtain and to hide and that they make good, deadly weapons where Muslims might be regarded with suspicion.