Explainer
Watch Episode 1 of our Madrasa Series: The History and Evolution of Madrasas. Moving beyond media stereotypes, this explainer traces the madrasa’s origins as a place of learning and its historic role as a centre of education and scholarship across the Islamic world and India.
Nous Podcast
Journalist Asad Ashraf in conversation with Professor Apoorvanand revisits Mahatma Gandhi as a political thinker and moral force. Moving beyond hagiography, the discussion examines his ideas on non-violence, mass politics, economics, and why Gandhi continues to unsettle contemporary India.
Based on a large-scale household survey in Jamia Nagar, Delhi, this report examines school access, educational costs, and learning outcomes among children in a Muslim-concentrated urban neighbourhood, highlighting the structural factors shaping educational inequality.
Explainer
This video examines four critical questions raised by lawyer and researcher Fawaz Shaheen on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls—an exercise affecting over 50 crore voters and reshaping the constitutional promise of universal adult franchise.
Nous Podcast
India’s growth story is often told through markets and income—but who is left out? In this Nous podcast, Dr. Amir Ullah Khan unpacks how exclusion is shaped by policy, institutions, and labour markets, showing why development without justice deepens inequality and demands urgent course correction.
Nous Podcast
The US kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro marks a critical moment in contemporary global politics. For decades, the United States has positioned itself as the guardian of a “rules-based international order.” This episode explores how fragile and selective that framework becomes when imperial power is directly exercised. The abduction
Nous Podcast
A conversation with Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani on Muslim Personal Law, the role of the AIMPLB, Islamic approaches to reform, women’s rights, and the Uniform Civil Code—set within the framework of India’s constitutional order and religious diversity.
Nous Podcast
In this Nous podcast episode, MP Hanifa Jaan joins Asad Ashraf to examine Ladakh after Article 370—probing democratic erosion, bureaucratic control, identity, environmental crises, and the region’s struggle for genuine representation and constitutional safeguards.
Nous Podcast
This roundtable reexamines Shaheen Bagh as a decisive moment of Muslim political assertion during the CAA–NRC crisis. It explores protest, policing, media narratives, and the unresolved questions Shaheen Bagh left for Muslim political futures in India.
Nous is a multidisciplinary think-tank and media institution working at the intersection of research, media, and technology, producing rigorous, evidence-based knowledge and storytelling on Indian Muslims, and on key socio-economic and politico-legal issues shaping India and the wider world.
Ali Javed engages philosopher Hasan Spiker to diagnose the "Muslim Crisis." Spiker argues the issue isn't geopolitical, but ontological: Muslims increasingly inhabit a "borrowed philosophy." A deep dive into the metaphysical roots of modern confusion.
As we close another year, we reflect on the journey of nous - not merely as a media house or a think tank, but as a growing knowledge ecosystem dedicated to reshaping the discourse on Muslim life in India. Our foundational belief remains unchanged: power follows intelligibility. What cannot be
Narratives around religious conversion are reshaping laws, policing, and daily life for minorities across South Asia. From legal harassment to mob violence, this discussion highlights regional patterns raising urgent questions about religious freedom and state accountability.
In this video, renowned author and Islamic scholar Dr. Javed Jamil explains the true meaning of Jihad, a concept that has been repeatedly misrepresented in public discourse. At its core, Jihad refers to the struggle against injustice and evil — whether internal (self-discipline and moral restraint) or external (oppression, exploitation, and
"They were beating to kill." Six years after the police crackdown at Jamia Millia Islamia, survivors recount the trauma of December 15. From the library assault to the lingering silence on campus, this is the story of a "black day" and the elusive wait for justice.
Sr. Advocate MR Shamshad exposes how selective justice—from Babri to Waqf—is eroding equality. A deep dive into the crisis of institutional accountability and the urgent need for constitutional literacy to protect minority rights in India.
Archaeology shapes how we imagine the present by helping us understand the past, and it remains a crucial tool for doing so. But in India, it often intersects with Hindutva narratives. From Ayodhya to Keezhadi, this article examines how archaeology is shaped by the contexts in which it is produced.
Revisiting Hallaq’s critique of the modern state, the episode highlights how both the ‘Islamic polity’ and the ‘nation-state’ are often theorized through idealized, hypothetical models that never fully existed in practice. We trace the historical role of Jamiat, Deoband, and other Muslim institutions that emerged in periods of relative
Is the crisis of secular politics merely operational or deeply ideological? We dissect the Bihar verdict, the exclusion of Muslim agency, and why the opposition must move beyond tokenism toward genuine power-sharing to survive.
Dr. Shamsul Islam dives into RSS archives to challenge established narratives. From the origins of the Two-Nation Theory to the freedom struggle, discover what their own records reveal about India's past.
Despite forming 17% of Bihar’s population, Muslims remain largely invisible in its development story. Concentrated in Seemanchal’s poorest districts, they face deep gaps in education, jobs, and representation—raising urgent questions ahead of the 2025 Bihar election.
Bihar is India’s third-most populous state — yet remains one of its most underdeveloped. But behind Bihar’s well-known struggles lies a story almost never told: the story of its Muslim citizens, especially in Seemanchal. Muslims make up 17% of Bihar’s population — one in every six people — but remain
