Main Bhi Muslim

This MBM conversation is with Dr Zehra Mehdi, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and academic, whose PhD research and writing is focused on examining and understanding the Muslim life “lived as psychic political subjects” in contemporary India. We begin with Zehra’s story being born and raised in Lucknow, until her entire family relocated to Delhi, post Babri in 1992. She talks about how the trauma of the Partition and the history of violence against Muslims in India across decades impacts the psychological makeup and meaning-making of a Muslim experience, and what it conditions us to prepare for in today’s times.Through her witnessing and ethnographic enquiry of Muslim women participating in the 2019 Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi and Lucknow, Zehra makes insightful and humane observations of what made several Muslim women come to the streets, how religion played its part in coalescing their resolve with present day demands, and the varying responses they had to the question of belonging and resistance.Correction: Nadira Khatun’s book ‘Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity, Production, Representation, and Reception’, came out in 2024. The host mistakenly stated it as 2025 in the conversation.Episode notes:* Listening to Refusal, Exploring the Political in Psychological Anthropology (Zehra Mehdi, Innovations in Psychological Anthropology, 2024)* On Farz: A Feminist Islamic Ethic of Resistance (Zehra Mehdi, Intersections)* Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity, Production, Representation, and Reception (Nadira Khatun, Oxford University Press, 2023)* Imtiaz Ali and the Burqa: The Strange Confidence of Explaining Muslim Women (Nabiya Khan, The Quint, July 2026)* Remembering Violence and Possibilities of Mourning, Psychoanalysis, Partition Literature, and the Writings of Sa’adat Hasan Manto (Zehra Mehdi, Cambridge University Press, 2021)* Death of an Empire (Ashis Nandy, First published in Sarai Reader, 2002)* Moral Abdication:How the World Failed to Stop the Destruction of Gaza (Didier Fassin, Verso Books, 2025)MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Sabina Fathima, founder of Sunnyside, a K-12 Experiential Learning School in Chennai. Sabina and I talk about her years of growing up within the Indian educational system, where engineering or medical were considered the only two paths to career and professional success, and the absence of an environment where a young mind could stay confused or reject the existing options. It was only when she began raising her first child, that Sabina realised how unhappy her kid was in mainstream educational set-up, which eventually led her to shift him to a Montessori schooling system and in the later years, establish her own school.As a visible Muslim woman leading an institution, Sabina gives a glimpse of some of her experiences interacting with different stakeholders and how she has learnt to adapt over the years. We also discuss the many ways that the Indian educational system needs to evolve in order to truly prepare a child for the world they are part of, the role of educators and parents in expanding a child’s belonging outside a classroom and a home, and how young kids can become active agents in addressing the real world challenges of today.Episode notes:* Eco India: How Chennai's children are redesigning their sweltering city (Scroll x Eco India, July 2026)* Meet an Educator: Sabina Fathima (early bird, April 2024)* Wild Learning: Yuvan Aves on nature as a classroom (Dark 'n' Light Zine, September 2024)* A Long Struggle For Indigeneity: The Story Of Van Gujjars And Their Search For A Tribal Identity (Pranav Menon, Adivasi Lives Matter, June 2021)* Van Gujjars Help Conserve Forests, but Are Deprived of Rights (Sushmita and Ajit Mahale, The Third Pole, February 2024)MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with 20-year old Zahra Batool Sayeba, a resident of Minjee village near Kargil. Sayeba is an avid hiker but despite growing up in and around Ladakh, hiking or camping in the mountains was not a pursuit that she or her friends undertook, until an off chance with an older friend helped her discover this life.In this conversation, Sayeba shares the wonders and joys that she finds through hiking, and despite community expectations, she continues to hike regularly offering a chance to many girls and young women like her to explore their home in more ways than one. We also discuss the role of families and institutions in supporting girls’ outdoor pursuits, the changes she has witnessed around her owing to climate crisis, and imagine the possibilities where women of all ages can explore hiking and wandering in the mountains just for themselves.Episode notes: * Some question why young women should climb mountains but hiking gives me freedom (Mohsina Gufran, The Guardian, July 2026) * Mountain Girls of Kargil | New Generation of Women Adventurers | Ladakh, India (Eleanor Moseman, YouTube, February 2026) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Safiya Bano, a resident of Golconda Hyderabad, who is a businesswoman and beneficiary of the non-profit, SAFA’s training and micro-finance initiative. Before being supported by SAFA, Safiya worked relentlessly for 20 years, starting from stitching shirt buttons to learning to make and sell washing powder. She has single-handedly supported the education and well-being of her five children, refusing to budge to a bad marriage and taking steps to look after herself and her children despite societal constraints and economic hardships.This conversation is a window to her life and story that showcases how sheer determination and grit to survive helped Safiya navigate life, but also in her own words, having faith in Allah and not dwelling on the past, has helped her take one step after another. Through SAFA, Safiya was able to get a small loan to start her own clothing business, which she hopes to scale with a bigger loan and better investment strategies over the coming years.About SAFA:* Website: https://www.safaindia.org/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safaindia* Linktree: https://linktr.ee/safangoRelated MBM episode:MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with social entrepreneur Rubina Nafees Fatima who is the Founder & Director of Hyderabad-based non-profit SAFA. For nearly 20 years, SAFA has been instrumental in supporting economically and socially marginalised communities in Hyderabad, through education, skill training, livelihoods, placements, and community wellbeing initiatives.How Rubina decided to start SAFA and her journey up until then is what we discuss in this episode. From her early beginnings growing across different parts of the country, being raised by a progressive father, recognising the dissonance between her family’s values and societal norms, and sticking to her north star at every stage of her life. Now in her sixties, Rubina continues to dream towards expanding SAFA’s work and impact, and in her own words is ‘raring to go.’ This Women’s Day, do give this episode a listen.About SAFA:* Website: https://www.safaindia.org/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safaindia* Linktree: https://linktr.ee/safangoEpisode notes:* To learn more about the Islamic story of Safa and Marwa - Following Haajar’s Footsteps to a Feminist Reading of Islam (Aneesa Bodiat, JSTOR Daily, October 2019)* Crossing the River Musi: The Identity and Agency of Women | Rubina Nafees Fatima (TEDxHyderabad, April 2025)* Hyderabad: ‘Only 5% Muslims in Old City slums pursue higher edu’, says survey (The Siasat Daily, March 2023)* 37 percent of women are single bread earners for families of which 43 percent are widows, 22 percent are divorced and 37 percent are single women abandoned by spouses.* Hijab ban: Karnataka high court upholds government order on headscarves (BBC, March 2022)MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Aiman Haque, a Delhi based researcher and writer. Through her years of growing up, working and having family across different parts of the country, Aiman shares how language, caste, history and local cultures have shaped her sense of identity and belonging. We discuss how caste manifests within Muslim communities, especially during arranged marriage discussions or in the choice of words used to address certain sections of the community.We also discuss the value of understanding the inner lives of Muslim women, in order to truly address the needs of the community as a whole. Aiman also shares what it takes to have spaces that are caste-conscious and compassionate towards every person, and find ways to expand opportunities and sense of belonging in more ways than one.Episode notes:* Panel 5: Counter-Narratives to Majoritarianism | Counter-Narratives: The MHI Conference 2025 (YouTube, Mariwala Health Initiative, April 2025)* The forgotten riots of Bhagalpur, In Pictures (Javed Iqbal, Al Jazeera, December 2014)* Caste and social stratification among Muslims in India (edited by Imtiaz Ahmad, Aakar Books, April 2018)* The political life of Muslim caste: articulations and frictions within a Pasmanda identity (Shireen Azam, Contemporary South Asia, July 2023)* Kerala hijab row: How a dispute between a teen and her school became a state-wide debate (Haritha Manav, The News Minute, October 2025)* The Indian development sector has got diversity hiring all wrong (Aiman Haque, The Caravan, January 2024)* Mental Health Is Political: Institutional Violence, Marginalisation And Mental Health Policies At Work (Aiman Haque, Feminism In India, May 2022)MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Nadira Khatun, author of the book ‘Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity: Production, Representation, and Reception’. Through this book, Nadira traces the representation of Muslim characters within Hindi cinema in post-partition India, and how the socio-political and economic factors have contributed to varied representations across decades.We discuss the influence of Bollywood on our own personal upbringings, how cinematic representations contributed to the majoritarian perceptions of the Muslim identity and its interactions with us. From films like Mughal-e-Azam and Mammo to Gully Boy and Superboys of Malegaon, we talk about the evolution of Muslim characters and what would it take to make a movie with a truly effortless Muslim representation that does not fulfil any expectation or stereotype.We also discuss the many failings of Hindi film-makers in representing Muslim women - who were either exoticised or oppressed, leaving us with the hope that there is a whole world to cover when it comes to exciting possibilities in the space of truly bebaak representations.About Nadira KhatunNadira Khatun is associate professor at School of Communications, XIM University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She was visiting assistant professor at McMaster University, Hamilton from January 2021 to January 2022. She has contributed to academic journals and edited volumes on social media, Bollywood and Muslim identity. Her book tilted, Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity: Production, Representation, and Reception was released in August 2024 with Oxford University Press, UK. Email address of corresponding author: [email protected] notes:* ‘Exoticised, alienised, villainised’: A book looks at how Muslims have been portrayed in Hindi films (Nandini Ramnath, Scroll, June 2025)* Ghettoisation, Crime and Punishment in Mumbai (Abdul Shaban, Economic and Political Weekly, 2008)* Jain, Ranu, and Shaban, Abdul (1999). Socio Economic and Educational Status of Muslims in Mumbai. A Research Report, Submitted to the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission. Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra.* Bombay Cinema’s Islamicate Histories (Edited by Ira Bhaskar and Richard Allen, The University of Chicago Press, 2021)* To Be Seen Whole: Blackness, Muslimness, and the Politics of Art (Topibechwa’s Substack, May 2025)* Links to certain films discussed in the conversation:* Mammo (1994)* Garm Hava (1974)* Mughal-e-Azam (1960)* Umrao Jaan (1981)* Pakeezah (1972)* Bebaak (2018)* Dhadak 2 (2025)* Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989)* Gully Boy (2019)* Darlings (2022)* Superboys of Malegaon (2024)* Supermen of Malegaon (2008)* Jawan (2023)* Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)* Coolie (1983)MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation with Zara Chowdhary, author of the memoir The Lucky Ones - a survivor’s account of the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom. The book is a deeply personal story of Zara and her family whose roots and history are entwined within the soil and soul of the Indian subcontinent, but also the trauma that speaks through the family, especially the women across generations.Zara’s writing is intimate, visceral and soul-stirring, with each page offering truth and dignity to every relationship she writes about, evoking a deep sense of humanity that we most often refuse to acknowledge even within ourselves. We talk about that and many other things including the ways faith informs her interactions with the people and communities she chooses to be part of.About Zara ChowdharyZara Chowdhary is a writer and educator in the US. She has an MA in writing for performance from the University of Leeds, and an MFA in creative writing and Environment from Iowa State University. She has previously worked behind the camera for studios like Red Chillies Entertainment, Vinod Chopra Films, Eros Entertainment and others. Her debut, The Lucky Ones, a first by any survivor of the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom, released in the US last year to critical acclaim.It was a PEN America finalist, and a Time Magazine Top Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, as well as a Best Book by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, People Magazine, Esquire, Electric Literature and others. In India, The Lucky Ones released in September 2024, and has become a nonfiction bestseller, winning the prestigious Shakti Bhatt Prize 2024, and currently long-listed for the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman. Zara teaches creative writing and South Asian studies at the University of Iowa.MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Shabnam Nafisa Kalim, a resident of Mustafabad - a predominantly Muslim suburban area in North-east Delhi, where she and her team of volunteers run two libraries to create a learning and educational space for their community. Mashaal Library and Amma’s Library have over the years become spaces of educational resources to prepare Mustafabad’s youngsters for competitive examinations, and support the local community through adult literacy, career counselling and mental well-being sessions. In this interaction, Shabnam also sheds light on managing internal community challenges, ensuring that libraries are acknowledged as fundamental needs for younger generation, where girls and women can spend time without being questioned by their families, and women recognise the value of their time away from family responsibilities. This kind of effort has resulted in more women coming to these libraries and encouraging others to join too. Links of the libraries: * Mashaal Library * Amma’s LibraryEpisode notes: * Why libraries are a must in India’s public schools (Sneha Priya Yanappa and Avinash Reddy, Scroll, March 2023) * With Poor Infrastructure, Lack of Facilities Govt Schools Perform Worst Across India: Report (Ditsa Bhattacharya, NewsClick, July 2021)* Ghettoes, Religious Communities and the State - A Muslim Enclave in New Delhi (Debanjana Das, ARF India, 2022) * Delhi Riots Fact-Finding 2020 by Delhi Minorities Commission (July 2020) * The Pursuit of Dignity & Beauty in a Broken World ft. Bhumika Saraswati (Anurag Minus Verma Podcast, January 2025)* Kranti Collective MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

This MBM conversation is with Nausheen Khan, an independent film-maker based in India, whose documentary Land of My Dreams is a retracing of her journey as an Indian Muslim woman as she covered the Shaheen Bagh protests in 2019-2020.In this conversation, Nausheen shares her introspection around her identity growing up, the effect of stereotypes on her, and reclaiming her Muslimness in more ways than one. We discuss the myriad forms in which being a woman in the present times challenges us to show up with more clarity and confidence in every space we choose to be in.We also discuss the impact of friendships and the need for bonds that allow one to express the vulnerabilities one lives with, as a woman, an artist, a Muslim, among others. For Nausheen, living with joy is the biggest act of resilience and this conversation is a snippet of that.About Nausheen Khan Nausheen Khan is an independent filmmaker based in India, working on gender perspectives amid conflict and political unrest in contemporary times. Land of My Dreams is her first self-financed feature-length documentary film. It won Best Long Documentary at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, in 2023, and the Citizens' Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, in 2023.Episode notes:* [Trailer] Land of My Dreams | Nausheen Khan | Documentary | Monthly Film Screening | April 2024 (Peoples Film Collective, YouTube, April 2024)* Nausheen Khan’s Land of My Dreams wins Best Long Documentary Award at IDSFFK (The Hindu, August 2023)* India: Tennis player Yadav killed by her father — reports | Tanika Godbole with DW sources (DW, July 2025)* Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real (Adrienne Matei, The Guardian, May 2025) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com