Million Views Preacher to Islamic Carpool Karaoke: the clerics behind Indonesia’s born-again hijrah movement

Social media is helping to drive a new movement known as hijrah, in which Indonesian millennials turn their backs on flawed, sinful lives to embrace religion.

Muslims aged between 17 and 24 prefer to study their religion via social media, according to research by the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University in Jakarta – and this has contributed to the rise of social-media-savvy preachers, who have harnessed the internet’s power to connect to Indonesia’s millennials. Here are four of the best known ones:

Abdul Somad, 41, is known for his humour on stage, and is particularly popular with mothers. He preaches on the hadith (the words and philosophies of the Prophet Mohammed), Islamic law theory, nationalism and current affairs, and is very active on social media – particularly on YouTube and Instagram, where he collectively has about 10 million followers, earning him the moniker Da’i Sejuta View or A Million Views Preacher.

But Somad has been controversial, too. In April last year, he claimed Muslims who bought products from Starbucks were indirectly supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and would therefore be damned.