Main Bhi Muslim

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...

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 he...

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...

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 infl...

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,...

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 competitiv...

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 t...

This MBM conversation is with Shabana Bano , a Lucknow-based kaamdani artisan. Kaamdani or Mukaish as its popularly known, is intricate metal-work embroidery which requires skill, talent, time and patience to stitch patterns and designs onto fabric. For more than 15 years, Shabana ji has been making her living through this craft, has trained and supported countless women and currently has a team o...

Can a Muslim university be an Indian university? These are the first words in Dr Laurence Gautier’s book Between Nation and ‘Community’ - Muslim Universities & Indian Politics after Partition , in which she explores the history, nature and contribution of India’s leading Muslim universities - Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI), two institutions which in her words acted,...

This MBM conversation is with Nusrat Jafri , author of the memoir ‘This Land We Call Home’. In this book, Nusrat traces her maternal history going back to her great grand-father, who was originally part of the Bhantu tribe, and later adopted Christianity as a way to overcome the ostracisation imposed upon him and his family for belonging to what the British deemed as ‘criminal tribes’.  Nusrat’s b...

This conversation is with Nazia Akhtar , Assistant Professor at the Human Sciences Research Centre, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and the author of Bibi’s Room: Hyderabadi Women and Twentieth-Century Urdu Prose , in which she has profiled three prolific Hyderabadi Urdu writers, namely Zeenath Sajida, Najma Nikhat and Jeelani Bano.  We discuss some of the most influen...

What does it mean to be a Muslim woman from Bundelkhand living through its socio-economic and political realities? What are their aspirations and expectations from the upcoming elections? How do they imagine their futures as citizens of this country? These are some questions that Main Bhi Muslim and Khabar Lahariya follow in this episode, speaking to Muslim women voters across Uttar Pradesh and Ma...

In this episode, MBM’s host Mariyam Haider is in conversation with Risana Rasheed from Kasargod, Kerala, who along with her twin sister, Ramseena, became the first women in their community to clear the JEE advanced, considered one of the toughest entrance exams, to enter the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Do check out EP27 with Ramseena Rasheed , to learn more about their early educational...

In this episode, MBM’s host Mariyam Haider is in conversation with Ramseena Rasheed from Kasargod, Kerala, who along with her twin sister, Risana, became the first women in their community to clear Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-advanced, considered one of the toughest entrance exams, to enter the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Ramseena offers a window into her upbringing in a working-cla...

In this conversation, MBM’s producer and host, Mariyam Haider speaks with Sulfath Laila and Gargi Harithakam, who are the co-founders of Vanaja Collective - that supports and helps couples from Kerala’s queer community, overcome their families’ resistance and find systemic avenues to bring them together. One of the successful cases that Vanaja Collective worked on was of Adhila Nasarin and Fathima...

Main Bhi Muslim’s last episode of the year is with the spirited and incredible human being, Sabika Abbas , aka @boltiaurat on Instagram. Sabika is a poet, organiser, SEL educator and story-teller. Her work revolves around issues of gender, minority rights and justice. She performs in public spaces, edits anthologies, translates and is constantly working on at least five dreamy or nonsensical side...

In this MBM conversation, Mariyam Haider speaks to Zoya who identify as a “They/Them with a She/Her vibe” and defines themselves as a “queer soul with the vibrant hues of a Transwoman, embracing the diverse rhythms of life.” In this episode, Zoya shares their journey exploring gender fluidity, and discusses how this exploration has enabled them to have more meaningful relationships. They also shar...

In this conversation, Mariyam Haider is joined by two of Parcham’s footballers and licensed coaches, 21-year old Madina Bi and 19-year old Fatima Shaikh. Mumbra-based, Madina and Fatima share their journeys with football and negotiating with family members to make it part of their lives. While Madina’s parents are understanding and supportive, Fatema had and continues to have a difficult relations...

In this conversation, MBM’s Mariyam Haider is joined by Sabah Khan, Co-Founder of Parcham - a Mumbai-based feminist organisation that champions inclusion, diversity and equality within the society. For more than a decade, Parcham has been running a football program that trains girls from marginalised communities and different religious backgrounds to become footballers and coaches.  Their football...

This conversation is between Dr Sabiha Bhoomigowda , retired Vice Chancellor of Karnataka State Women’s Akkamahadevi University, Vijayapura, and scholar Dr Sukanya Kanarally who has kindly interviewed Dr Sabiha on behalf of MBM. Dr Sabiha is a literary critic and was a friend of the late Kannada author, Sara Aboobacker . This episode is dedicated to discussing Sara Aboobacker’s journey as a writer...

In this International Women’s Day special episode, MBM’s Mariyam Haider is in conversation with the team at LedBy Foundation - India's first leadership incubator that focuses on the professional development of Muslim women.  Deepanjali Lahiri is the Chief Operating Officer and Fatema Chiba is the Program Manager at LedBy, which has been running training, mentoring programmes and fellowships to sup...

In this episode, Main Bhi Muslim’s producer and host, Mariyam Haider, speaks with journalist, playwright and award-winning author, Annie Zaidi. Annie has written several books including: City of Incident; Prelude to a Riot; and Bread, Cement, Cactus : A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation . She is also the editor of Unbound: 2000 Years of Indian Women's Writing. In this episode, we discuss Bread,...

In this episode, Main Bhi Muslim’s producer and host, Mariyam Haider, speaks with Dr Ghazala Jamil - Assistant Professor at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr Ghazala is the author of Accumulation by Segregation (Oxford University Press, 2017) and Muslim Women Speak (Sage-Yoda Press, 2018). Her latest book titled - Women in Social Change: Vis...

In this episode, Main Bhi Muslim’s producer and host, Mariyam Haider , speaks with Dr Tahera Shaikh, Pune-based researcher and author who has spent a key part of her research life documenting the lives and contributions of Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh, 19th century India’s social and educational reformers. In this episode, Dr Tahera shares her findings and understanding of Fatima Sheikh’s ro...

In this episode, Main Bhi Muslim’s producer and host, Mariyam Haider, speaks to Sameera Khan , Mumbai-based, independent journalist, researcher and co-author of the critically acclaimed ‘ Why Loiter - Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets '. Over the years, Sameera has been a media trainer, guiding journalists on how to cover violence against women, particularly rape. She won the National Laadli Media Aw...