'What about the hurt Nik Abduh caused your father?'

They were in al-Azhar University together, among waves of Islamic students from Malaysia who flocked from the 1980s onwards to the global seat of Sunni Muslim learning in the immediate aftermath of the Khomeini revolution in Iran in 1979.

Nik Omar Nik Aziz is the eldest son of the late and revered PAS leader, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the menteri besar of Kelantan from 1990 to 2013, while Mujahid Yusof Rawa is the youngest of the 11 children of Nik Aziz's predecessor as Murshidyul Am (Spiritual Leader) of PAS, Yusof Rawa.

The tie between these scions of what is considered PAS royalty turned out to be crucial to swinging Nik Omar to Amanah and Pakatan Harapan.

With two days to go for GE14 nominations on April 28, Nik Omar was still dithering on whether to join Amanah, the PAS splinter formed in September 2015, after the professionals in the party were routed in the party polls in June that year, or to stay in PAS.

The reason for Nik Omar's prevarication was Tuan Sabariah Tuan Ishak, widow of the legendary PAS leader and mother of his 10 children.

She was resolute against any of her sons abandoning the party her husband had devoted his life to.

“I don't want to hurt my mother,” Nik Omar parried when faced with Mujahid's importuning.

Mujahid is vice-president of Amanah and formulator of a new - and more inclusive - approach to Islamist politics that goes by the name of Nunji, which is the acronym for Nadwah Ulamah Nahdhah Jadidah. The English equivalent would be 'Renaissance'.

From 2016 on, Mujahid (photo) had been gently nudging Nik Omar towards enlisting with Amanah.

He was crucial in the effort of getting Nik Omar to become the Amanah candidate for the state seat of Chempaka in the parliamentary constituency of Pengkalan Chepa, both regarded as bastions of Nik Aziz, who died in February 2016.

In physical feature and mannerism, Nik Omar resembles his father, which is probably why his scruples about hurting his mother yielded to Mujahid's implorations to respond to a higher call.

In the Islamic heartlands in Malaysia, the battle is intense between PAS and Amanah for the role of keeper of the legacy of Nik Aziz, who is viewed as rebbuni (great teacher), a term similar in meaning in the Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew.

The line that supposedly cleared Nik Omar's qualms was Mujahid's query: “What about what Nik Abduh has done to hurt your father?”

Nik Abduh, the incumbent PAS MP for Pasir Mas and fifth son of Nik Aziz, has been a thorn in the side of Amanah and a proponent of ties with Umno, despite his father having been dead set against any PAS collaboration with the nationalist party that the elder man viewed as steeped in corruption and unsalvagable from the scourge.

Tugged by the conflicting imperatives of not wanting to hurt his mother and allegiance to his father's ideals, Nik Omar not only agreed to being the Amanah candidate for Chempaka but has, in recent days, appeared on Pakatan Harapan platforms nationwide.

Mujahid, who at 54 years is a year older to Nik Omar, became friends with Nik Omar when they were students at al-Azhar in the 1980s. Nik Omar read for a degree in Usuluddin while Mujahid studied Arabic and Arabic Literature.

On their return to Malaysia Mujahid plunged into PAS politics but Nik Omar stayed off politics, preferring teaching to political activism. He developed a certain regard for Mujahid.

“He let me know he finds politics hard and envies my ease in the clamour of the arena,” said Mujahid, who is the Amanah incumbent for the parliamentary seat of Parit Buntar in northern Perak, where he faces an Umno opponent who is a former Perak state secretary, and a PAS candidate.

This makes the battle a three-cornered fight, just the sort of contest Nik Aziz, an inveterate foe of Umno, would have abjured.

Since Nik Omar joined Amanah, he has appeared on Pakatan Harapan platforms in the Klang Valley and in Kelantan, drawing stinging rebukes from his mother but gaining, in the view of Islamists who revere his father, the admiration of his co-religionists for fealty to his dad's ideals. -Mkini