Any Muslims in IB/High Finance? What's your experience been like?
Hey everyone,
I'm an incoming freshman at NYU and am planning on pursuing investment banking. I was just curious if there are any Muslims here working in IB or high finance and what your experience has been like.
For some background, I'm a Muslim guy. I pray around 3-5 times a day and I don't drink or smoke. I'm definitely not the perfect Muslim by any means, but I do try to practice my faith. I've been around parties and people drinking in high school, but I've never really participated.
I was mostly wondering what it's actually like once you're in the industry. Do you usually have time to pray during the workday, or is that unrealistic with the hours? Also, since drinking seems like a pretty common part of networking and team events, what's your experience been if you don't drink? Have your coworkers or bosses ever cared, or is it generally not a big deal? I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has ever felt left out or if people are pretty respectful about it.
I'm not really looking for a debate about religion or whether finance is halal. I'm just interested in hearing from people who've actually been through it and what their experience has been.
I'd really appreciate hearing your stories. Thanks!
At some point you would have to work on a deal with companies that are immoral...
How would you deal with that?
He literally said he doesnt give a shit at the end
Ah fair enough. Thought it was an interesting question. Thx for letting me know. Not sure if I seen that first time round or if it was edited after I asked that tbh
Bump
People are generally respectful and do not care if you drink or not at networking events. You can simply have virgin and non-alcoholic options in such settings.
With respect to prayer times, you need to be strategic about it. As long as it doesn’t interfere with your job, I don’t think people will notice UNLESS you give them a reason to notice (e.g., frequent pattern of missing scheduled calls). You wouldn’t generally draw any scrutiny as long as you’re doing your job.
Lastly, to answer your opening question, yes, there are many Muslims in high finance (IB, PE, and HF).
Most people in IB sacrifice some degree of religion, if they are even religious, for the job. You will be fine but honestly it shouldnt even come up or be noticeable to anyone, ir else you are doing to wrong.
I have 1 Muslim coworker, 1 Jewish and presumably rest Christian or non-religious but I couldn’t tell you a thing about there private religious life because they keep it separate from work.
Ignore title Sr Aso at a EB.
I’m openly muslim, pray in office, regularly use arabic (my native tongue) in the bullpen, fast for Ramadan the whole nine yards.
I’m only replying to this because I remember having the same questions when I was in your shoes - the honest answer is it really depends by team. My first team was not the most welcoming and I had some not so great interactions but then i was able to find a place for myself on wall st with a team that honestly just didnt care. They’re all respectful of my religious obligations and for sure at times my prayer is delayed cos of calls or meetings but on the whole I make it work. I don’t drink (never have just not for me) and my entire team knows it and doesn’t really care. At happy hours I just get a coke or a water and that’s it.
Don’t be worried about the religion interfering with anything. For sure you’ll come up against folks with prejudice but if they judge you for what you believe in or the way you live your life did you really want to work with them in the first place?
Hey man I got a couple of personal questions u mind dming me or something like that?
You will do fine as long as you stick to major financial hubs like London and NYC. With ample HR presence, teams are forced to be inclusive. There is peer pressure to drink as it’s part of social fabric but no one will admit this. Don’t expect HR to be super receptive from a diversity perspective, they only care about accommodating gender diversity ie hiring and promoting as many women as they can.
Never seen anyone take time off for prayers but you should be fine as long as you are discreet. You will need sponsors to climb the ladder and it is not that easy to be part of the inner circle as most bonding with seniors revolves around alcohol in some shape or form.
If you are a practising Muslim and competent, sooner or later your peers will try to frame you as not a good cultural fit especially if you are competing for limited VP+ spots. Meaning you might get targeted in layoffs if you don’t have political clout. Try to work for teams where at least you have some seniors of color, ideally a muslim man.
Most successful Muslims I came across in finance are performative for the large part. I wouldn’t call them practising. Keep in mind that most of your bosses will be non-muslim conservative white or brown men and they really don’t like Islam or Muslims even if they pretend to be indifferent
I will add specifically about drinking - it seems like everyone in the industry drinks and there is peer pressure. But if you actually pay attention lots of the top MDs don't drink or hardly drink, quite a few (but lower percentage) of juniors too. Just do your thing - being smart including common sense and pulling your weight is really what matters initially, and then developing the higher level skills (management, negotiating, social/bus dev) as you get promoted.
Here is the caveat. All these MD and GH pretending to be sober were alcoholics through their mid/junior ranks. As a senior banker, it is more fashionable to pretend you are sober and focusing on your health etc. Drinking is just one aspect of the social mix
3. I am not advocating for you to be non-muslim. This is just my personal story. Anyone who wants to maintain their faith would stay far away from this industry. Riba is like waging war against Allah
Stfu goof. You are only doing this to eliminate competition. Show us one Muslim country that has a financial system that is fully shariah compliant even then interest is just repackaged as upfront lump sum.
I already work in IB in London lol and literally stopped practicing after my summer. I couldn’t care less about sharia compliance or your arguements. He asked for my take and I gave it
Wow, I saw something saying WSO people are so douchey and insufferable. I’m seeing now that it’s definitely true. Why u hating on his take, bro? He’s just telling what he thinks.
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