He said the former law minister should understand that insults shouldn’t be hurled at anyone, including the scholars.

“Liberals usually believe in the concept of human rights, but in this case it appears as if he (Zaid) doesn’t.

“Even ordinary people can’t be insulted, what more those who are held in high regard,” Abdullah Zaik said to FMT.

Zaid today criticised the way ex-journalist Sidek Kamiso was arrested on Sept 19 for allegedly insulting Islam on his Twitter account by commenting on the death of PAS spiritual leader Dr Haron Din.

Zaid was also reported as saying that insulting an ulama is not akin to mocking Islam, or Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

“He (Zaid) is a lawyer, but his intelligence doesn’t show that.”

PAS Ulama Council Information Chief Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said “no religion and culture allows its followers to insult others, what more a person who is deceased”.

“Everyone has the right to criticise, but not with insults.

“Criticisms made towards those who are righteous and knowledgeable must be done in a more mannered way than that against ordinary persons.”

Haron passed away last Friday at the age of 76, at the Stanford University Hospital in California while undergoing treatment for a heart problem.