And then there is the hijab, the iconic piece of cloth that Femen has deemed a symbol of oppression. Wearing the hijab, to be clear, is a sacred act of worship that many Muslim women practice voluntarily. In fact, I have friends who cover their hair against the will of their husbands and fathers who, ironically, fear for their safety in an increasingly Islamophobic climate. In a sorely misinformed and cruelly inimical statement, Femen's leader Inna Shevchenko equated the hijab with "the blood and all the crimes that are based on your religion," and called for Muslim women to remove it in solidarity. And what if the Muslim woman she was debating had complied? She'd be doing it as an act of coercion. When Femen's free speech thwarts a woman's freedom of religion, then they have become no better than the abusers they are protesting.

Thousands of Muslim American women wear the hijab, and it falls within their Constitutionally protected rights to do so. Making associations that imply that the donning of the headscarf is oppressive, while showing off silky tresses is liberating, is unscrupulous. In the aftermath of the Femen protest, Muslim women came out in droves to demonstrate that Islam is not oppressive and that they have the right to choose to wear the hijab. In response, Shevchenko told Huffington Post U.K., "They write on their posters that they don't need liberation but in their eyes it's written 'help me.'" As supposed trailblazers in initiating a discussion on women and religion, it is tragically ironic that when Muslim women spoke up, Femen didn't care to listen.

Femen undoubtedly raised a ruckus, but they cleared a path for the wrong kind of debate.

If Femen aimed to shed light on injustices against Muslim women like honor killings or gender-related violence, they would have been better served putting their shirts back on, rolling up their sleeves, and supporting Muslim charities and social service organizations all over the world that are striving to remedy these social ills. Muslims are driven by their Islam (gasp) to address human rights violations, regardless of who is committing them. One of the 50 most influential Muslims in the world, Muslim scholar Habib Ali of Dar al Mustafa Islamic University in Yemen, challenged Muslims to uproot gender inequality by reinforcing true Islamic values, saying, "The Prophet said 'The best of you are those who are best to their families'... Enough of this talk in defense of Islam, that it was Islam that gave woman her right and it was Islam that freed women. Yes, Islam did that. The question really isn't whether Islam did that or not; the question that should be asked is why we're not implementing Islam in that regard."

In the post-9/11 world, Femen's dangerous assertions only feed the already raging flames of Islamophobia. It is wrong to associate violence perpetrated in the name of Islam with an emblem of faith because it perpetuates the horridly inaccurate assumption that Islam condones violence. To say that Islam guides its adherents to commit atrocities against any people speaks to the limited understanding of the accuser. I understand that this maxim doesn't sit well with feminists, Orientalists, Islamophobes, secularists, and others. But the concept of a Muslim feminist is far from oxymoronic; it's tangible and real. Contrary to what Femen would have you believe, it is possible to practice Islam and champion women's rights at the same time. Muslim feminists would tell you as much -- as long as they aren't being drowned out.

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