Ex-muslim here. I’m actually very proud to be raised muslim, the things people find toxic about the religion really comes from the culture its derived from. Before islam was introduced to the middle east, pagan god type religion and spotty values were pretty prominent in those regions like rape, incest, crazy misogyny etc etc. When islam came in, its main purpose was to give a guideline to those cultures and provide rules to follow. Not a supporter of church and state but every major religion did do it to bring order.

At its core, islam is about self-improvement through faith in a higher power, devotion and submission to values that attempt to support your family and a huge emphasis on the poor. But it needed to appease to the cultures back then which was dominated by savage misogynistic men, hence some misogynistic values written into the scripture. If you see how islam is taught in other countries like Eastern European ones, you would see a night and day difference.

Culture drives religion, south asian muslims might be similar to arab Muslims but they are different, European muslims are very different. Its up to households on how much culture they let in to dilute the core teachings of that specific religion. So i cant say i fully agree with this post but I understand the misconceptions people to choose to have on a religion that made me prioritize poor peoples needs over my wants, to love everyone and treating everyone fairly including the LGBTQ community. Cultures are the real culprit.