This puts the Islamist party at odds with the National Fatwa Council, which once declared Shia Islam as deviant and prohibited Malaysians from practising it.
Echoing PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, the party’s ulama chief, Mahfodz Mohamad, said yesterday that not all Shia practices were un-Islamic.
“Shi’ism is a legitimate expression of Islam,” he told FMT. “We cannot label its practitioners as deviant simply because they are different.”
Earlier, Hadi said he was disappointed that Sunni and Shia followers were at loggerheads and called for the two denominations to unite against tyranny.
Malaysian Muslims are predominantly Sunni and subscribe to the Shafi’i school of jurisprudence.
The comments by Hadi and Mahfodz followed Tuesday’s arrest of 50 Pakistani nationals, believed to be Shia Muslims, by Selangor religious authorities.
The 50 were at an event to mark Ashura, a day observed worldwide by both Sunnis and Shias. For Shias, however, it holds a special significance because it marks the day on which the third Shia imam, a grandson of the Prophet, was martyred.
Last month, Penang Mufti Wan Salim Mohd Noor gave the opinion that Shia Muslims are still Muslims despite their differences with the Sunnis.
Quoting a saying of the Prophet, he said a person must be considered a Muslim as long as he prays facing Mecca.
The split between the Shias and Sunnis was the result of disagreement with regard to the choice of successors to Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis recognise the first four caliphs as the rightful successors, but Shias say they should be chosen only from the Prophet’s household.