Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has offered his condolences on the death of PAS spiritual leader Haron Din earlier this morning.

"I received the saddening news that tuan guru Haron Din has passed away.

"Malaysia has lost an Islamic leader who has contributed a lot and whom I respect deeply.

"On a personal level, my family and I have lost a close and beloved friend," he said in a Facebook post today.

Haron passed away at Stanford Hospital in San Francisco this morning after he was earlier admitted to intensive care for heart complications.

Najib said even though they were on different political platforms, they both wanted the same thing, that is for Malaysia to continue to prosper as an Islamic country.

Meanwhile PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang extended his condolences to Haron's family on behalf of the Islamist party, reported Harakah Daily today.

"He was part of the early generation of PAS ...we hope that all his contributions to Islam and to PAS is accepted by Allah, and for any of his flaws and mistakes to be forgiven by Allah," Abdul Hadi said.

PAS deputy spiritual leader Ahmad Yakob also expressed condolences to Haron's family, saying the passing was received with sadness by party members and supporters.

Ahmad, who is Kelantan menteri besar, said Haron had been an eminent ulama who was a source of reference on various fields of knowledge.

"His involvement in PAS had strengthened the party," he said in a statement.

Fellow fighter

In a separate statement, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, popularly known as Mat Sabu, also conveyed his condolences to Haron's family.

"For Amanah, his passing is a huge loss not only to the national dakwah movement, but to all Malaysians," he said.

Throughout Haron's life, he had contributed greatly to society specifically in the field of alternative medicine and dakwah, said Mohamad Sabu.

Even though they are now on different ends of the political spectrum, Mat Sabu said he believes every Amanah member also feels the loss of Haron.

"What more, many among us were together in the same fight before this," he said.

Mohamad Sabu added he hopes Haron's family will remain patient in the face of such a test.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin also expressed his mourning of the loss of Haron.

"We have lost someone who will be difficult to replace," he said in a Facebook post.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also expressed sympathy and condolences on behalf of the party to Haron's family on his passing.

"Even though we had our political differences, DAP recognises Haron's role as an important figure in the political scene and in the dakwah scene," Lim said in a statement today.

Though the two parties were former comrades in Pakatan Rakyat, they had a falling out stemming from the hudud issue last year.

This led to an estrangement which eventually resulted in the death of Pakatan Rakyat.

Haron a moderate leader

Adding to the stream of condolences, Majlis Dakwah Negara (MDN) has also extended its sympathies to the family.

"The loss of such a stellar individual, even though it is difficult to accept, but the love of Allah towards him should be a remedy to the sorrow," said MDN chairperson Mahmood Zuhdi in a statement today.

He also conveyed his condolences to PAS members and supporters on the loss of their spiritual leader, especially as they only just lost their previous spiritual leader, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, last year.

Haron, he said, showed priority to moderation in various aspects, even when the former was Nik Aziz's deputy.

"Ever since his involvement in politics since the 70s, he was known as someone who was careful with his words and did not harm anyone with his words.

"He was also known as someone who would always choose the consensus in any party dealings and always avoided challenging any party decision.

"In this aspect, he can be seen as the uniting factor in the party," Mahmood said.

Mahmood added that even in politics, Haron still took a balanced approach, whether when dealing with PAS issues or with Islamic issues within the nation in general.

"His death can be seen as a loss to the country as a whole, seeing that his positive and moderate political and academic attitudes have contributed a lot to the unity of this country," he said.

(Editor's note: Comments for this article have been disabled)