‘Don’t be fearful of Nik Elin, the lawyer’
If you love Islam, stand with me. Be the voice of progressive change so that our faith is never defined by fear, intimidation, or extremism. Islam is peace. Islam is entirely about love, mercy and compassion. It is about peaceful coexistence and universal justice.
I am simply a Muslim who wants a stable future where our faith inspires rather than strikes fear. Forced belief is a complete contradiction, it is a fundamental oxymoron.
By creating rigid modern laws that never even existed during the time of our beloved Prophet, we are acting lebih kuah dari sudu (an equivalent of “more Catholic than the Pope).
We cannot tolerate legal frameworks that completely criminalise critical thinking. Differences of opinion should be celebrated as a divine blessing, not punished.
Look at the moral decay in our society right now. Why is this happening? Because of the intense systemic pressure to conform to only one narrow, rigid version of Islam.
Our faith explicitly demands that we think for ourselves. In Quran Surah Al Anam 6:116, Allah warns us not to blindly follow the masses because the majority can lead you astray from the true path.
I dream of a future where Islam does not need to be forced upon us by state legislation but lives naturally within our hearts.
My life motto is anchored in Quran Surah An Nisaa 4:135 which commands us to stand up firmly for justice as witnesses to Allah even if it goes against ourselves, our parents or our closest kin.
Kelantan-born Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid is a Malaysian lawyer who made headlines for successfully challenging the constitutionality of several state-level Syariah criminal provisions in Kelantan.
Alongside her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman, she filed a legal challenge at the Federal Court of Malaysia in May 2022 against the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.