Dr. Farhat Hashmi is an Islamic scholar, preacher and muslim televangelist from Pakistan. She was born on December 22, 1957. She holds a PhD degree in Islamic studies from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and was formerly a lecturer and assistant professor at the Faculty of Usul-al-Din at International Islamic University, Islamabad. Farhat Hashmi founded Al-Huda International Welfare Foundation in 1994. The foundation started a number of schools to teach the Quran and Hadith to women in order to "help women become better observant muslims by helping them understand the Quran". The foundation now runs a network of schools, seminaries and social welfare projects. In 2004, the foundation established the Al-Huda Institute in Mississauga (Toronto area), Ontario, Canada. This institute offers courses on exegesis of the Quran and Hadith and attracts students from a number of foreign countries.