Ok my stance on being a progressive muslim criticizing western muslims: I'm tired of cherry pickers. Yes sounds ironic doesn't but here me out: Muslims claim that hijab is not forced. They say Muslims women aren't oppressed. The irony is that they live in the west. How could they POSSIBLY speak for all the millions of muslim women living in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudia Arabia , Iran who clearly do not have a choice. And claiming women living in the middle east are not oppressed while living in the west is just so hypocritical. Every time I speak to a Muslim about FGM, honour killings, acid attacks etc happening in the muslim world they say: "well its culture not islam". SO? it's still happening in the muslim world . Whether Islam ordered it or not is irrelevant because it happens to muslim muslim women. And Muslims think saying "oh its culture not islam" frees them from all responsibility of enacting change. Yes Islamophobia is real, but when Muslims say "oh why do I have to apologize for the actions of few..." passes me off. Just say sorry. Yes you owe it to the family of the victims. Basically my main issue is Muslims turn a complete blind eye to the problems in the muslim world, they spend more time fending of Islamophobia then actually examining their on flaws. I am a progressive muslim, and I hope to work to bring as much improvement to the lives of Muslims as I can.