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Dr. Farhat Hashmi ‘s Al-Huda International Welfare Foundation has helped women worldwide, to enroll for various courses, from Quran interpretation to Islamic jurisprudence.
The ‘Farhat Hashmi phenomenon’, as the Pakistani press have dubbed it, is an intriguing social movement. Dr. Farhat Hashmi is a religious teacher and extremely popular amongst the educated, urban, upper-middle class and upper class women throughout the world. Farhat Hashmi translates and explains Quranic verses with the help of multi-media presentations projected on a screen.
In 1994, Farhat Hashmi set-up, the Al Huda International, an Islamic institute, that aims to promote “purely Islamic values and thinking”. The institute offers various courses, among others, in Quranic interpretation, Islamic jurisprudence, and Arabic grammar through correspondence, evening courses for working women, and summer courses for school children.
The institute is fast growing with 8 branches worldwide, including one in the US and UK. In 2002 in Karachi, 1200 women signed up for the year long course on Quranic interpretation. A lecture by Farhat Hashmi can draw a crowd of 10,000 women. The website features downloadable Hashmi lectures, Al-Huda students chat sessions, and on-line religious education classes. On her television show, she sits before a computer clicking away at the mouse while answering questions from an all women audience. Dr. Hashmi challenges the clergy’s interpretation of Islam for women.
Dr. Farhat Hashmi completed Master’s in Arabic at Punjab University, Lahore and Ph.D in Islamic Studies from University of Glasgow, Scotland. She taught at the International Islamic University, Islamabad and was in charge of the Women’s Section for some years. Currently, she is pursuing her mission of spreading Quranic education among Muslim women through the Al-Huda International Welfare Foundation.
Farhat Hashmi opines that until one learns and understands what different communities know and feel about Islam you cannot defend it. “Pakistan is so backward. Because there is also too much rigidity. There is capacity within Islam to grow with the changing times. But in Pakistan, the way we approach Islam is very rigid. It is the narrow vision that prevails and this view has turned the younger generation away from Islam,” she said.
“Why is it that, whenever religion is discussed, there is argument and discord? Even while arguing with a non-Muslim, do so peacefully. It is sad, but the level of our awareness about religion is very low. Very often it pains me to see that as far as religion is concerned, the only issues that seem to bother even the most educated women are irrelevant issues and the various arguments of different schools of thought,” she said.
“It is much easier to change one’s appearance than one’s inner self. True awareness can only come through education and this is something that I emphasise all the time,” she adds.
Inspite of the fact that most of the ulema are very critical of her mission today, Farhat Hashmi is popular among all sections of the Muslim community across the world. Even in Mumbai there are many study centres where Dr. Farhat Hashmi’s Tafsir is taught.
Farhat Hashmi is not discouraged by the fact that many ulema are against her. “I think it has become a gender issue, they feel that a woman is usurping their territory. I have been told that it is un-Islamic for a woman to be heard publicly as I am, through my cassettes” she said.
The Pakistani ulema have not accepted Farhat Hashmi as she is not a product of the madrasas, instead she comes from a school, college and university background. She has studied abroad. She does not fit into the typical mould, so many of them do not even consider her a religious scholar.
What motivated Farhat Hashmi to start Quran classes for women? She opines that the basic issue is the fact that the clergy do not want to educate the common man about the Quran. “They say the masses are not capable of understanding it, that only religious scholars are able to understand it. The ulema cannot accept that a woman is capable of understanding, interpreting or teaching the Quran. From beginning to the end, I keep the Quran in front of me. And for me, what is written in the Quran is Islam. I am not prepared to take dictation from the ulema and teach their version of Islam,” she said.
“My basic point of conflict with the ulema is that with every verse of the Quran, I try to find what is the benefit of that verse for today’s world. This is what ulema do not like and constantly criticize me for it.” she said.
(Al Huda International Welfare Foundation, 58, Nazimuddin Road, F-8/4, Islamabad, Pakistan. Ph: +92 51-226-1759 Email: info@ alhudapk.com Website: www. alhudapk.com) Audio Tapes by Dr. Farhat Hashmi are available with Islamic Voice
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