in 2005. Career While teaching at the International Islamic University, Hashmi had started informal religious classes for women. Upon returning to Pakistan she launched Al-Huda International; a non-government welfare trust which seeks to educate women as to how they can interpret and then employ Islamic principles in their daily lives. The establishment of a progressive school purely for women, by a female Islamic scholar was seen by some as a direct response to large seminaries, which women had come to view as being regressive and highly politicised. Hashmi has been noted for her nontraditional style of teaching and original lectures which focus on feminism. She utilizes modern methods of teaching in her lectures and is multilingual in Urdu, Arabic and English, so her female students; a large of whom come from educated, urban families, are able to relate with her. Academic studies have shown that the innovative techniques of teaching introduced by Hashmi are one of the reasons for the institute's popularity. Hashmi began her career as a television preacher on Geo TV, where she hosted the programme Shahru Ramadan during the month of Ramadhan. She also appeared in the programme The Quran & You on Aag TV. She continued to give lectures on exegesis of the Quran on Geo in the show Fahm ul Quran. More recently her lectures have been broadcast as standalone episodes. During her television shows, she appears on air covered with an Islamic veil and niqab; while giving her lectures from her laptop. This has been termed as an "image that projects the confluence of pious traditionalism and media savvy prosperity". Views She favours greater participation of women in day to day matters of faith, and is of the view that women should be able to pray outside their homes, and they should be able to lead their own prayers. According to Hashmi, women can touch and recite the Quran during their menstrual periods, wearing gloves (either when learning Quran from a teacher or teaching Quran to others), traditionally considered by some to be prohibited. Hashmi advocates for a revival of Islam and encourages her followers to interpret the Qur'an for themselves supporting their views with strong evidence. She urges her followers to focus on becoming better Muslims and her lectures are focused on family structures. This view is criticized by her critics, who claim that her religious Dars "center around personal and family development,