Born in Pakistan, Farzana Hassan is a Pakistani-Canadian author, speaker, and human rights activist. A Reformist Muslim, she is a Past President of the Muslim Canadian Congress, and a prominent member of the South Asian-Canadian community. The National Christian/Muslim Liaison Committee of Canada awarded Hassan with its annual service award in 2004 for her efforts in promoting interfaith harmony.

Hassan was educated at Kinnaird College, and the Universities of Massachusetts, and the Punjab, and has earned a Doctorate in Education, and master’s degrees in both business administration, and political science with specialization in International Relations.

While Hassan, a well-known writer and commentator on Islam and Muslim issues, is based in Canada, her opinions are highly regarded worldwide, particularly those relating to women's rights in Islam, and Islamic terrorism. She is in favor of banning the burqa. Hassan is currently a columnist for the Toronto Sun, with her writing also having appeared in the Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, and Huffington Post. She has also been a regular contributor to Thara-E magazine, the largest English publication on women's issues in Syria.

Hassan has authored several books, with her previous books including Prophecy and the Fundamentalist Quest (McFarland & Co, 2008), Islam, Women and the Challenges of Today: Modernist Insights and Feminist Perspectives (White Knight Publications, 2006), and Unveiled: A Canadian Muslim Woman's Struggle Against Misogyny, Sharia and Jihad (Freedom Press, 2012).

A public speaker well known to the media both in Canada and internationally, Hassan has presented papers at several national and international conferences, and been a member of delegations to various UN workshops on women’s rights. She represented Canada as part of a three-member delegation to Syria to promote citizen diplomacy and peace-building among Jews, Christians and Muslims in that country, addressed a conference on women’s rights in Islam held on Capitol Hill, has participated at the world-famous Doha Debates, and interviewed with BBC World Service, CBC, Al Jazeera, The Voice of America, Le Monde, and The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

Hassan resides in Canada along with her family, and continues to travel often to Pakistan. See Farzana's newest book here.

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