Nasharudin Mat Isa

This is a Malay name; the name Mat Isa is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Nasharudin.

Haji Nasharudin Mat Isa
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Bachok, Kelantan
In office 2008–2013
Preceded by	Awang Adek Hussin
Succeeded by	Ahmad Marzuk Shaary
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Yan, Kedah
In office 1999–2004
Preceded by	Badruddin Amiruldin
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1962-10-19) 19 October 1962 Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Sunni Islam

Haji Nasharudin Mat Isa (born 19 October 1962) is a former Member of the Parliament of Malaysia. He was born in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.He represented the constituency of Yan, Kedah, from 1999 to 2004, and the seat of Bachok, Kelantan, from 2008 to 2013. From 2005 to 2011 he was the Deputy President of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

Nasharudin attended the University of Glasgow. Before entering active politics, he was a lecturer at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. In 1999 he left academia to take up the post of PAS's Secretary-General, making him the party's top administrative officer. He was hand-picked for the position by the party's President, Fadzil Noor, who had brought Nasharudin and other urban professionals into PAS during the 1990s to modernise the party. 1999 also saw Nasharudin's election to Parliament for the seat of Yan.

In 2004 Nasharudin lost his parliamentary seat when he switched to run for the Besut seat in Terengganu. The following year, he became the Deputy President of PAS, making him the party's second-most senior elected leader after the President, Abdul Hadi Awang. Nasharudin's election to the position was a surprise: the senior cleric Haron Din had been slated to run against the incumbent, Hassan Shukri, but withdrew due to illness. In Haron's absence, Nasharudin defeated Hassan by a narrow margin. In 2008, he returned to Parliament, winning the seat of Bachok in Kelantan. The following year, he won re-election as Deputy President of PAS, defeating two other candidates. His victory was seen by observers as a win for PAS' conservatives. However, he was ultimately defeated for re-election in 2011 by moderate candidate Mohamed Sabu.

During his deputy presidency, Nasharudin had been one of PAS' leading proponents of entering talks with its long-time opponents UMNO to establish a ruling Malay coalition between UMNO and PAS. After travelling to Gaza in 2013 with UMNO's president, and Malaysia's Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, he was expelled from PAS's governing council. He did not recontest his parliamentary seat at the 2013 election.

Having left both PAS's leadership and the Parliament in 2013, Nasharudin became chairman of the Nassar Foundation, a non-government organisation concerned with Islamic matters. From this position he spoke out against the use of the word "Allah" by Christians to describe God, and led protests against what he perceived as the lack of support from the Egyptian military government for people in Gaza.

He speaks Malay, Arabic, English, and Urdu.

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia: Bachok, Kelantan

Year	Opposition		Votes	Pct	Government		Votes	Pct
2008		Nasharudin Mat Isa (PAS)	28,835	52%		Awang Adek Hussin	25,934	47%

Parliament of Malaysia: Besut, Terengganu

Year	Opposition		Votes	Pct	Government		Votes	Pct
2004		Nasharudin Mat Isa (PAS)	17,587	40%		Abdullah Md Zin	26,087	59%

Parliament of Malaysia: Yan, Kedah

Year	Opposition		Votes	Pct	Government		Votes	Pct
1999		Nasharudin Mat Isa (PAS)	16,041	49.5%		Badruddin Amiruldin	15,859	48.9%