“Neo-Frerismo”: behind the scenes of Dini TV, the Netflix of conservative Muslims which has a considerable audience among young people. A media created by Abdelmonaim Boussenna and Rachid El Jay, now based in Dubai

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With their millions of subscribers on social networks – Rachid El Jay has 2.2 million subscribers and Abdelmonaim Boussenna more than 800,000 – these two “Youtube imams” launched their Dini TV platform in September 2020. “A platform in which we will teach you everything that every Muslim should know”they detail.

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One of the two founders, Abdelmonaim Boussenna, 32, from the North, is the son of an imam of the Lille Sud mosque. This close friend of Amar Lasfar, a longtime strongman of the UOIF, the French branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, is first and foremost a “chanter”, that is to say someone recognized for his way of reciting religious texts, not for his knowledge of Koranic science. He was also close to Tariq Ramadan for a long time, whom he defended at the time of the first rape charges against the speaker.

All the codes of the Islamic society of the spectacle

Former Salafist, Rachid El Jay, 42, hit the headlines in 2015 when he still calls himself Rachid Abou Hodeyfa and officiates as imam at the Al-Sunna mosque in Brest. Comments made in 2012, by the man who was then close to the Salafist imam of Villetaneuse Mehdi Kabir, made the rounds on social networks. The veil is “A woman’s honor. And if she goes out without honour, don’t be surprised if men abuse this woman.”, “ [ceux qui écoutent de la musique] will be transformed into monkeys and pigs”.

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For Léo Michel, there is a real difficulty in qualifying the founders of Dini TV from a theological point of view. “They claim to be Islam in the middle ground (Al Wasatiyya) and a contextualized understanding of religion. » And if certain markers anchor them unambiguously on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood, in particular Boussenna, the label is insufficient. “I prefer to talk about neo-freism because they are part of this heritage but update its scope”explains Haoues Seniguer about these figures who have perfectly integrated “the secular principle and respect for the Republic”.

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In the cycle on modesty in seven episodes, Samah Bint Abdelhadhim reaffirms that the veil is an obligation for all Muslims and warns “badly veiled” with shimmering fabrics. “The garment must be loose, that is to say that it must not follow the shape of the body, it must not be tight. And it must be opaque. […] So beware, fashion has taken hold, fashion has taken over religious rules, there too subhanallah you can wear the veil and catch the eye. We ourselves will be accountable to Allah.”she retorts, before once again alerting the youth: “Be careful, there are dating sites, there are associations, you can fall into sin very quickly, it starts with a look. »

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The call of tax haven…

According to our information, Abdelmonaim Boussenna and Rachid El Jay have now settled in Dubai, a land of welcome for all influencers.

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