The 'Woman Life Freedom' protests in Iran in 2022 revealed a tension between female choice and a male determination to control. Large numbers of women and girls entered the public space to reject the compulsory hijab and to assert their rights. The response of the country's rulers was brutal and confirmed for many in the west a linkage between Islamic laws and a propensity for violence. But such practices also highlight the tension between Islamic teachings, which stress equality between the sexes, and male authority's routine reliance on violence. Why is Islam so often associated with violence against women, both in Muslim-majority states and in the western imagination? And how are Muslim women using their religion as a tool of emancipation to combat the theological fiction that God gave men authority over women (Mir-Hosseini 2015)? My research provides clear evidence that many Muslim women cherish their religion, both as a means to empowerment and of comfort in difficult times; they do not regard it as a source of violence, pointing out that modern interpretations have departed significantly from the original message of egalitarianism. For them, violence stems from patriarchal social structures. The paper explores two arguments: (1) the western stereotype of the Muslim women as a victim of her barbaric religion is inaccurate and rooted in colonial fantasies; (2) there continues to be a degree of indifference in Arab countries to domestic violence, and selective excerpts from the Qur'an are still used 'to prove that men who beat their wives are following God's commandments' (Douki 2003). The research is inspired by Islamic Liberation Theology and seeks to challenge the 'politicised portrayal of Muslim women' in the western media (Afsaruddin 2023). It argues that many Muslim women are using their religion as a means of resistance. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork in several Middle East and North African states.