If you have been actively following Muslims on Youtube, Reddit, Twitter/X, Instagram, or Tiktok, you notice two distinct groups of Muslims that have unfortunately arisen.
These are the liberal, secular, and progressive Muslims. They are embarassed that Islam isn't liberal or progressive enough. They want to take extreme liberal interpreations of Islam, to the point it isn't even Islam anymore. They disregard all prominent scholars of Islam (yes, even ones that may be considered liberal) and instead replace them with those who majored in gender studies or feminist sciences. They may also want Muslims to interpret Islam for themselves without any formal education or training in Islam.
An example of these kinds of Muslims is the cult Muslims for Progressive Values or Muslims for Secular Democracy. These two organizations actively go against Islam. For example, if something is permissible in Islam for men in an Islamic state, these people will say the same applies to Muslim women in non Muslim countries for the purposes of "gender equality".
They are too concerned with the dunya, and too concerned with developments in the liberal secular ideology. They may appreciate liberal aspects of other religions/irreligious ideology and want to incorprate it into Islam.
Group B:
These are the Salafis, the Wahhabis, the Muslim men who call themselves incels/MGTOW, or the hypocrite trolls who scream haraam non-stop while their social media accounts show haraam content.
These people are embarassed that Islam is not conservative enough. They scream "tabarruj", "dayooth", "free mixing", and "haraam" for no reason at all. They will pass assumptions and judgements about other Muslims (which violates Quran verse 49:12 and Sahih Muslim 2563a). They will call other Muslims as "kaffir". They think they know more about other Muslims than these Muslims know about themselves. These people are too concerned about the after life and feel they need to be overly rigid and strict. We have seen these environments causing Muslims to doubt Islam and leave it. Just like the Group A above, these kinds of Muslims may appreciate the conservative aspects of other religions/irreligious ideologies and try to incororpate it into Islam. For example, Hasidic Judaism is the most strict religion when it comes to women. Muslims may want to take some of their teachings and mold it into Islam. I also mentioned the Muslim men who identify as incels or MGTOW. I have talked about how these men are munafiqeen. These men watch those "chad" social media influencers and how they speak about women, and they want to incorporate this into Islam.
This group may only want to listen to Salafi sheikhs and disregard Muslim scholars from other regions (yes, even ones that are considered to be conservative). As we all know, Salafi's believe Arab culture and Sunnah of the Prophet pbuh and his wives is compulsory upon all Muslims.
This group also believes only scholars of Islam can understand the religion, and we all have to follow them without question. They pretty much believe you need a fancy degree from Al Azher or the University of Madinah in order to know what Islam says.
Both of these groups talk pure garbage. They both claim Islam allows/doesn't allow XYZ, and when you actually try to look at the the Quran and Hadiths say, well it contradicts what these two Muslim groups say.
We are supposed to be in the middle when it comes to Islam. We cannot be extreme on EITHER side. We have to have a BALANCE. And yes, sometimes Muslims can lean towards slightly to either side as long as they aren't violating the religion and have a formal education in Islam.
