PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's apparent defence of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's alleged involvement in the 1MDB scandal has shocked even his own members.

Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the least Hadi could have done was ask Najib to deny the report incriminating him in The Wall Street Journal .

"With due respect to the president, when there are allegations against a top government official, and backed with documentary evidence, I would have made a stand to ask Najib to deny the claims and if the report is untrue, to sue WSJ," Mujahid said.

"How can a top scholar like Hadi ( photo ) not know this and merely say that witnessses are needed to prove claims against Najib?" he said after a meeting with Nibong Tebal DAP members led by former Seberang Perai municipal councillor Teoh Seang Hooi today.

Mujahid is one of the 18 progressive PAS leaders who were defeated in the party's internal polls in early June.

Mujahid then outlined five standards of proof in Islam that Hadi could have used to respond to allegations against Najib.

"In Islam, the standards of proof include confession, the best evidence deemed, witnesses, as in the bank officers or Bank Negara officials who can verify Najib's accounts.

"There is also circumstantial evidence, by prosecuting him first and then producing the evidence and lastly, what are the conventions or practices when dealing with such a case," Mujahid explained.

Mujahid said this to Malaysiakini had asked his response to Hadi saying that in Islam, there should be just witnesses when accusing Najib, similar to the need for four witnesses in PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case.

He was also asked to respond to PAS spiritual leader Haron Din's statement that allegations of RM2.6 billion having put into Najib's private bank accounts before the 2013 general election defied logic.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng also expressed shock at the statements of the two top PAS leaders, saying PAS has changed with the new leadership and seem more inclined to support Umno.

Najib has denied using money for his personal gain and his lawyers have shot the US-based financial paper an email demanding that it confirm the report in 14 days.