Murtaza Hussain is a political commentator and contributing writer at Al-Jazeera, The Guardian and Salon.

What do Muslim women want? In striking scenes around the world, ostensibly well-meaning topless women (mostly white Europeans) who think they know the answer have painted slogans across their chests, chanted and burned flags outside of mosques. Among the objects of their “liberation” movement, they appear to have provoked more bafflement and revulsion than appreciation. The counterdemonstrations by Muslim women, some wearing the veil and some not, have deepened the confusion on this issue.

Femen's ideals are incompatible with the values of many Muslim women. Its activism feels more like an attack than sisterly support.

European women have made remarkable strides in deconstructing the patriarchal power structures of their societies. Why would their efforts to extend public support to their Muslim counterparts be met with such scorn?

The right of women to live in society with full freedom, equality and respect is inalienable. Women around the world, particularly poor women, are subject to subtle and unsubtle patriarchy, from countless everyday indignities right up to the institutionalized horrors of human trafficking. Feminists of all stripes – whether topless or veiled, Muslim or non-Muslim, male or female – would agree on the goal of ending these injustices. However, there are many “feminisms,” and the paths by which women in different societies may choose to assert their rights are by no means identical.

Contrary to the Eurocentric worldview of groups like Femen, Muslim women are not a blank slate. Intellectual giants of Islamic feminism like Leila Ahmed, Fatema Mernissi and many others have been effectively critiquing the patriarchal power structures within Muslim societies for years. Modern Muslim feminism is built on decades of scholarship by Muslim women; for non-Muslim European activists to think that a provocative nude protest would help reeks of arrogance.

Furthermore, aside from the racial overtones when mostly white Western women are trying to “save” mostly non-white non-Western women, Femen activists have insulted the group they claim to care about. A campaign against the hijab is an attack on Islam instead of on patriarchy itself, effectively marginalizing all those women who choose to seek their rights in an Islamic context.

Femen projects a version of feminism that is utterly incompatible with the values of many Muslim women, and feels more like an attack than a sisterly sign of support. The nudity campaign is ineffectual at best and counterproductive at worst. Instead of telling Muslim women what they should want, activists should start by reading and listening to what Muslim women say on the subject.