There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, and 4.3 million in the United States and Canada. That's a lot of people with assuredly different hot sauce preferences (the single quality that best defines us as individuals). And yet many still think of Muslims as one big, uniform entity. We spoke with Eiynah, a Pakistani-Canadian blogger who writes about sexuality and politics from a liberal ex-Muslim perspective, to get a keener sense of the diversity within Islam ...

5 A Liberal Muslim Constantly Alienates Both Sides

One of Eiynah's main issues with Islam is homophobia. Not every Muslim is homophobic, but it's still primarily Muslim countries that fiercely outlaw homosexuality. Some even carry the death penalty. So when Eiynah wrote My Chacha Is Gay, an anti-homophobic children's book set in Pakistan, she was immediately hit with a huge backlash from what seemed like everyone.

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"I was delighted when it got picked up by some schools in the Toronto area and was used as a resource for The Day of Pink (an anti-bullying initiative). The book was read out in classrooms and assemblies, and the response was incredibly supportive at first. Then, as (Muslim) parents discovered that not only were their children read an LGBT-positive book, but were read one set in Pakistan, the outrage began. Many claimed it was an assault on their religion and a misrepresentation of it. Some said I was attacking the moral fiber of the 'Muslim family.'"

Eiynah

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