This paper investigates the socio-religious contestations around gender rights in Egypt through the case study of Abdallah Rushdy, a celebrity Muslim preacher and social media influencer. Rushdy, who is traditionally trained at al-Azhar but appeals to a young audience by dressing casually and showing off his gym workouts, performs what I call a toxic masculinization of religious discourse. When asked for his scholarly opinion on an issue, Rushdy chooses the one position, out of many acceptable positions in the Islamic tradition, which reflects his patriarchal view of the relationship between heterosexual men and other genders. I analyze Rushdy’s posts, his audience’s responses and the emerging online subculture surrounding belief, mental health, and gender in contemporary Egypt. Rushdy uses his charisma, religious authority as an alum of al-Azhar, and what some might see as a desirable lifestyle with brand-name apparel and a bodybuilding regimen, to gain, sustain and provide content that engages with, entertains and responds to concerns of a large following. He is adept at using imagery to capture the social media user’s attention, including the use of videos of varying lengths (two to fifteen minutes) and satirical memes poking fun at the ideas of his intellectual opponents. Each of these platforms offers spaces for negotiations, debates and general exchanges between Rushdy and his followers. For this paper, I systematically read and analyzed hundreds of posts made by Rushdy on Facebook from 2020 to 2023, particularly those about gender. Specifically, I analyze his stance on the issue of marital rape, which was brought into the public conversation in April 2021 with the release of the Egyptian drama series Newton’s Cradle. His is an example of a hybrid religious preacher endowed with legitimacy through traditional religious education while sporting the influence and lifestyle of a social media personality with a large online following. This is a case study in the changes to religious authority and religious discourse on gender in the age of social media and memes.