Common Shared Values<\/strong><\/p>\nMuslims, like other people with strong beliefs, do not see themselves exclusively focused on or defined by such \u00a0issues. Islam has spread throughout the world because of its dynamic nature, where it influences local customs and is \u2018influenced\u2019 by the older local culture.<\/p>\n
Religion is a private matter and it\u2019s looked upon as foundation for building inner discipline and external strength to address challenging situations. People of faith, like their secular colleagues, want to climb the corporate ladder and break the glass ceiling to get to the executive floor, if not the corner office. Muslims have been on Wall Street and High Street for many years, if not decades, and it\u2019s only now they are being noticed. The difference between then and now is there are more Muslims in the financial sector and non-Muslim colleagues know more about Islam because of a combination of internet, 24-7 news, 9\/11, documentaries, Dubai\u2019s accomplishments, Islamic finance and personalities like His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that many Muslims were involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement because of common shared values. In the New York Times article there are two quotes that best summarise how Muslims, residing in
\na non-Muslim country such as the US, should think about and approach a place of work and perception of fellow workers. \u201cI think Muslim professionals are too sensitive and underestimate our co-workers,\u201d comments a consultant in the article.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeek the opportunities and firms that speak to their set of values, expertise and passion,\u201d said Mohammad Al Arian, CEO of Pimco.<\/p>\n
Just as an employer interviews a potential employee, the latter also needs to interview the former.<\/p>\n
I have worked at two multinational companies in the US, heading their Islamic finance business, in New York. First at Dow Jones Indexes for 10 years and now at Thomson Reuters.<\/p>\n
A common denominator for international companies is their diverse employee base due to extensive international presence, including many Muslim countries. The corporate culture in these companies reflects common shared values formalised in codes of ethics. Thus, these companies understand \u2018sensitivities\u2019, and have high expectations of all employees.<\/p>\n
As Muslims working in the West we do have a tendency to initially \u201cunderestimate our co-workers\u201d in understanding our rituals (prayers, fasting, etc.), and our prohibitions (alcohol). While it could be attributed to many things, such as prejudices, with time there is a mutual understanding and respect.<\/p>\n
The New York Times article used examples of Muslims finding places for praying during working hours or Friday prayers, and fasting during Ramadan. The article should have taken this one step further, and asked the Muslim worker about non-Muslim colleagues fasting or visiting a mosque.<\/p>\n
Most, if not all, of us have non-Muslim colleagues who have fasted, some partially (till lunch time) and others until sunset. One of the great attributes of Americans is they like challenges, and will push the envelope of endurance. Others have visited mosques, and made observations such as \u201cnothing fancy inside\u201d, \u201cwhere are the stained glass windows, pews, gold crescent and star?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe the article should have interviewed non-Muslims working in senior positions in Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Malaysia on drinking alcohol, shaking hands with conservative women, breaking meetings for prayer time and so on. As senior executives, they are deemed ambassadors of the Islamic financial institution, and it does imply abiding by a certain level of Islamic code of conduct in public places.<\/p>\n
Bottomline<\/strong><\/p>\nThe bottomline is that there is understanding and respect for rituals as long as teamwork, quality and deliverables are not compromised.<\/p>\n
Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and informed non-Muslim colleagues understand basic tenets of Islam. Muslims need to continue taking a pragmatic,
\nover dogmatic, approach to finding the balance between faith and finance.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published in Gulf News<\/a>. Siddique is the\u00a0Global Head of\u00a0Islamic Finance and OIC Countries at Thomson Reuters. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange \u2014\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and informed non-Muslim colleagues understand basic tenets of Islam. The New York Times recently interviewed several American Muslims, including me, working in the financial arena for\u00a0the article, \u201cMuslims on Wall Street, Bridging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":4749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[98,165,163,161,160,52,159,162,164],"class_list":["post-4748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-american-muslims","tag-faith-and-finance","tag-finance","tag-halal-banking","tag-islamic-finance","tag-muslims","tag-muslims-on-wall-street","tag-new-york-stock-exchange","tag-new-york-times"],"yoast_head":"\n
Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/27\/2012\/05\/NYstock-exchange.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"313\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/\",\"name\":\"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/2d865aff786b53f8ec13c56a6f5518ec\"},\"description\":\"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/2d865aff786b53f8ec13c56a6f5518ec\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7378f6254ac5bdf4936a66cb60d0dd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7378f6254ac5bdf4936a66cb60d0dd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/altmuslimguest\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic","description":"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic","og_description":"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"475","height":"313","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/27\/2012\/05\/NYstock-exchange.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/","name":"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-07T21:38:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/2d865aff786b53f8ec13c56a6f5518ec"},"description":"By Rushdi Siddiqui The New York Stock Exchange --\u00a0Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2012\/05\/muslims-on-wall-street-pragmatic-over-dogmatic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Muslims on Wall Street: Pragmatic over Dogmatic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/2d865aff786b53f8ec13c56a6f5518ec","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7378f6254ac5bdf4936a66cb60d0dd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7378f6254ac5bdf4936a66cb60d0dd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/altmuslimguest\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/27\/2012\/05\/NYstock-exchange.jpg\" "\\"NYstock")
<\/a>By Rushdi Siddiqui<\/strong><\/p>\n