Fadzil Noor

PMRAM is the oldest association in the Middle East, it was officially established since 1930.

The only Malaysian association in Egypt at that time, even before the government Malaysian embassy established in Cairo in late 60s.

Dato' Ustaz Haji Fadzil bin Muhammad Noor (فاضل بن محمد نور; 13 March 1937 – 23 June 2002) was a Malaysian politician and religious teacher.

He received his early education at the Derga Malay School (1945-1950) in Derga, Alor Setar and Maktab Mahmud (1951-1959) before furthering his studies at Al Azhar University, Egypt (1962-1967) majoring in Islamic law from.

His higher-education was sponsored by the Kedah state government.

In the same election, PAS was defeated in Kelantan, which it had ruled since 1959 by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition who formed the federal government.

He became the PAS President of the Kuala Kedah area and the Kedah PAS State Liaison Member.

Fadzil Noor was appointed as President of ABIM when Anwar Ibrahim was arrested under the Internal Security Act 1960 in 1974 following the Baling Demonstrations caused by a famine in Baling.

In 1967, during his time in Egypt, he held the position of Secretary and Deputy President of the Malay Association in the Arab Republic of Egypt (PMRAM).

Upon returning from Egypt he taught at Maktab Mahmud and later as a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) (1973-1978).

Ustaz Fadzil Noor had been the Information Secretary of the Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) (1973-1974) and ABIM Deputy President (1974-1978) and Secretary of the Malaysian Ulama Association (PUM) (1974-1976).

ABIM actively spread books and writings of the Muslim Brotherhood such as Hassan al Banna, Syed Qutb and Jamiat Islami, Maududi.

Some PUM leaders have also been prominent members of PAS including Ustaz Ahmad Awang and Ustaz Abdul Ghani Shamsuddin.

He was fired from UTM for contesting in the 1978 Malaysian general election as a candidate for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

He brought the case to court as the dismissal did not follow the correct channels.

The court ordered UTM to pay damages and to reinstate Fadzil as a lecturer.

Fadzil later resigned as a lecturer to pursue political activities full-time.

Fadzil's political career began in 1978 when he stood as the PAS candidate against Datuk Senu Abdul Rahman for the Kuala Kedah parliamentary seat.

However, he was unable to defeat the incumbent.

Both men wanted PAS to advocate for an Islamic state in Malaysia modelled on the one that had arisen in Iran following the 1979 revolution there.

In 1981, he was elected as Vice President of PAS and served in the position until 1982.

Fadzil became the Deputy President of PAS in 1982, when Yusof Rawa ascended to the party's presidency.

The election of Yusof and Fadzil marked a victory for the party's conservative ulama faction.

In 1983, Fadzil and Yusof Rawa were elected as Deputy President and President respectively.

He was the president of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1989 to 2002 and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Malaysia from 1999 to 2002.

When Yusof resigned due to health reasons in 1989, Fadzil became PAS's President.

He set PAS on a more moderate path, diverting from the hardline Islamism of Yusof's presidency.

This involved reorienting the party's platform away from the propagation of religious doctrine towards a greater focus on social and economic issues such as poverty alleviation.

This approach brought greater electoral success for the party.

PAS captured the state of Kelantan at the 1990 election and Terengganu in 1999.

His presidency saw the formation of the Barisan Alternatif coalition between PAS, the Democratic Action Party and Keadilan, which made large gains in the 1999 election.

In the face of criticism from the party's conservatives, he justified cooperation with non-Muslim opposition parties by arguing that PAS's 'struggle for justice' was 'not only for the Malays, not only for the Muslims, but for all Malaysians'.

Fadzil also set about infusing the party's youth ranks with urban professionals, such as Hatta Ramli, Dzulkefly Ahmad and Nasharudin Mat Isa, to diversify the party's future leadership beyond religious clerics.

Fadzil died on 23 June 2002 after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

He was succeeded as PAS President and leader of the opposition in Parliament by Abdul Hadi Awang.

He was an alumnus of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

Fadzil was born in Kampung Seberang Pumpung, Alor Setar, Kedah.

He is the eldest of four siblings.

His father's name was Mohd Noor Abdul Hamid and his mother's name was Hindun Haji Abdul Rahman.

His great-grandfather, Tuan Guru Haji Idris Al-Jarumi was a respected scholar who hailed from Pattani, Thailand.