Haron Din

Haron bin Din (Jawi: هارون بن دين‎; 18 August 1940 – 16 September 2016) was a Malaysian politician and Muslim cleric. He was the 3rd Spiritual Leader of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from March 2015 after the death of his influential predecessor Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to his own death in 16 September 2016.

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Din is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Haron. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.

Yang Berbahagia Tuan Guru Dato' Haron Din DPMS
3rd Spiritual Leader of the Malaysian Islamic Party
In office 12 March 2015 – 15 September 2016
President	Abdul Hadi Awang
Preceded by	Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat
Succeeded by	Hashim Jasin
Personal details
Born	(1940-08-18)August 18, 1940 Kampung Bohor Mali, Simpang Empat, Kangar, Perlis, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Died	September 16, 2016(2016-09-16) (aged 76) San Francisco, California, United States
Resting place	Five Pillars Farm Muslim Cemetery, 1761 Laughlin Rd, Livermore, CA, United States
Political party	Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) (1974–2016)
Spouse	Khatijah Salleh
Relations	Abu Hassan Din Al Hafiz (brother, deceased)
Children	5
Occupation	Politician

Education

• Klang Islamic College (1962-1965) - Sijil Tertinggi Kolej
• Studies Diploma from Al-Azhar, Cairo (1966-1968)
• M.A. in Sharia from Ain-Shams, Cairo University (1972-1974) - Ph.D. in Sharia
• National University of Malaysia (UKM) bestowed upon him Professorship in the year 1986.

Politics

• PAS active member from 1974
• PAS central committee member (1975-1983)
• Central Committee Chief
• PAS Scholar council
• Vice spiritual leader of PAS

Controversies

Allah word issue

This particular issue tests the consensus of the ulema based party. Their top leaders including the likes of Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Abdul Hadi Awang, were supporting the word be used by Malaysian Catholics in their Malay version of the Bible. Haron however, opposed this idea by saying that it is an abomination for permitting such action. This caused a split in PAS as Haron was deemed as a prominent Islamic scholar.^[1] Haron stated that he did not agree to allow non-Muslim to use the word Allah.^[2]

Death

Haron died on 16 September 2016 at the Stanford University Hospital in San Francisco, California, United States at the age of 76 after being in a coma.^[3]

Election results

Perlis State Legislative Assembly^[4][5]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2004	N12 Tambun Tulang		Haron Din (PAS)	2,680	37.17%		Shahidan Kassim (UMNO)	4,422	61.35%	7,208	1,742	85.33%

Parliament of Malaysia^[4][5][6]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2004	P003 Arau		Haron Din (PAS)	14,124	44.10%		Syed Razlan Syed Putra Jamalullail (UMNO)	17,367	54.23%	32,024	3,243	84.23%
2008			Haron Din (PAS)	16,151	48.27%		Ismail Kassim (UMNO)	16,451	49.17%	33,458	300	83.4%
2013			Haron Din (PAS)	18,005	46.84%		Shahidan Kassim (UMNO)	19,376	50.41%	38,439	1,371	87.60%
							Zainudin Yom (IND)	406	1.06%

Award

Haron Din was awarded Darjah Kebesaran Dato Paduka Mahkota Selangor (DPMS) from Sultan of Selangor in 2016. However, his son received the award, on behalf of Haron Din, from Sultan of Selangor.^[7] He was also awarded posthumously special 'Maal Hijrah' award from Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah for his contribution to Islam at national and international levels.^[8]

• Selangor :
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor (DPMS) – Dato' (2016 – posthumously)^[9]

Other references

• Darussyifa