Let me introduce myself please. I am an Arab Muslim pharmacist from Egypt. I grew up in Cairo till I was 21 years old, then I moved to Italy for my studies and work. I'd lived in Italy for 10 years. And I've moved back to Egypt where I opened a pharmacy in Sharm El Sheikh (South Sinai). So, I am dealing everyday with customers and friends from England, Italy, Sweden, Germany and Norway. Moreover, there are many English people who are living and working here in Sharm El Sheikh and one of them is my best friend. Her bf is Muslim Egyptian and they're happy together.
I am saying all this story to tell you that I've known people from different cultures throughout my life. So, I am in a situation in which I can give a honest opinion about this matter. First of all, don't let what you hear about Muslims in Saudi Arabia and similar restricted countries (Afghanistan, etc..) affect your image about Islam. Many Muslims are practicing religion in a wrong extrimist way that has nothing to do with the true Islam (like women not driving cars or beating the wives or women not getting their rights). If you visit a country like Egypt, you will see that this is not the case here especially in Cairo. Women here drive cars, go to work, get their rights in marriage and their money belong to them. They date and have freedom to do whatever they want. They live a normal life! Don't get influenced by the media. Just pay a visit to Cairo or Alexandria and I'll show you how Egyptian women are living their life just as yours or maybe a better life.
This does not mean that Egypt is free from extremists. There are some extremists here, but they are not a majority here in our society. And most of them do not come from Cairo (the capital), they come from poor villages where they didn't manage to attend good schools and Universities or get a good education because of poverty. In Cairo we learn about religion from a big institution called Azhar that is like the Vatican for Christians. But in villages people learn religion erroneously from mosques or don't learn it at all, so the result is a Muslim person that doesn't represent the real values of Islam and misunderstand the Islamic rules stated in Qur'an.
One more thing I've noticed during my stay in Italy, is that most (but not all) of the Arabic immigrants are not from Cairo, not from a good social class and are not educated. They left their own country in order to improve their financial situation by working in any generic job. I myself couldn't make any friendship with any of these Arabic people during my stay in Italy due to their different mentality, way of thinking and culture. And these Arabs are whom you are seeing in the Western countries and this is why your image about Arabs is not the true image. This is why I don't get upset when I read any bad comment about Muslims or Arabs and I give you the excuse to say so. What I can say is don't generalize. Sometimes I read in the news about crimes that happened in the USA or men who beat their ladies there. But I don't generalize. For sure in every country, there are nice people and bad people.
The last thing I'd like to say if you meet an Arabic man living abroad, be picky. Don't rush. Only date well educated Arabic men. Try to meet his parents. Try to know his social class, his education. Try to talk about his religious values to see if he is moderately religious or an extremist. There are many nice Arabic Muslim men all over the world who treat their women like a queen and are so gentle and open minded. I am one of them and I'm available by the way hahaha
Good luck to you all. I am glad to join this forum and I apologize for this long message. Thanks for reading. Goodbye