PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has come under fire from the International Union of Islamic Scholars, in which he is the vice-president.

In a statement issued in Arabic, the union condemned Hadi for attending an international conference in Teheran last Saturday, where Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khameinei delivered the closing speech.

"The International Union of Islamic Scholars is puzzled by the timing of the visit, at a time when Iran is brutally killing our brethren, particularly in Aleppo and Syria as a whole.

"The union also condemns the unsanctioned visit by one of our leaders and it does not represent anyone but the individual himself.

"The union also awaits Hadi's explanation over his visit, for which time and place were not endorsed," it said in a Facebook post.

The statement was released in the names of the union's president Yusuf al-Qaradawi and general-secretary Ali Muhiuddin al-Qurra Daghi.

The statement was reproduced by Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin (photo), together with a Malay language translation.

Asri said he was initially shocked and saddened that the union's president Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi had purportedly endorsed Hadi's visit and was relieved after reading the statement clarifying that this was not true.

The statement came after Islamic scholar Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi criticised Hadi for attending the conference in Tehran, calling it an "embarrassment".

Abd al-Fattah's complaint, in Arabic on Facebook, was highlighted by Jemoreng assemblyperson Juanda Jaya, who was the former Perlis mufti.

Iran, a Shiite Muslim country, is backing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on rebels in the country.

Assad's regime is largely dominated by Shiite Muslims, while the rebels largely comprise Sunni Muslims.

The six-year Syrian civil war has cost more than 300,000 lives.

Yesterday, Hadi's political secretary Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar defended his boss' visit to Teheran.

Samsuri claimed Hadi's visit was on invitation of Abdurrahman Bayraan, a Sunni Muslim who represented Iran in the union and was appointed by Yusof Qaradawi.

He added that Ali Muhiuddin al-Qurra was informed of the visit and it did not run contrary to Yusof al-Qaradawi's stance.

However, both Ali Muhiuddin and Yusof al-Qaradawi in the statement today denied the union endorsed the visit.