An influencer-turned-beauty entrepreneur who drew widespread criticism for dressing inappropriately in a photo with an Islamic preacher during Ramadan has publicly apologized for the incident.
Nadira Isaac, 20, went on Instagram yesterday to apologize for “dragging” Mohamad Amirul Amin, aka PU Amin, 31, for a photo with her friend Hertonnye Linggom, 31, at the launch of her beauty brand Troieka, where Amirul was invited to bless the occasion. He was later photographed standing in between both women, who had worn white body-hugging dresses deemed too provocative.
“I sincerely apologize to Amin for dragging him into this issue,” Nadira said. “I would like to thank him for being present at the launch of my company, and I actually did not realize that the photo would become a serious problem.”
She added: “This is my mistake. The photo has been deleted, out of respect to Amin … I apologize to anyone who was offended by the photo, including Amin himself.”
Muslims are in the midst of celebrating the holy month of Ramadan till May 12. The photo taken at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur drew criticism on Nadira’s Instagram account before it was deleted. That same photo went up on Hertonnye’s account but with her legs and Nadira’s bottom censored, which was a move that many thought was “respectful.” Hertonnye is also a social media personality with 128,000 followers on Instagram.
Many also criticized Amin for smiling in the photo, which the preacher has since implied to the media that he was left with no other choice. The preacher was invited to bless the occasion with a special sermon that Nadira said “would be helpful” to her friends in the LGBT community, without elaborating further.
Amin defended himself against critics on Monday, saying that he neither hugged nor touched the women in the photo, whose dresses he admitted were “not appropriate.”
“It’s not like I could say ‘no, you’re going to hell’ when people want to take photos with me,” he said, adding: “To those who criticized me for smiling in the photo, what was I supposed to do, make an angry face?”
