Trading the Trading Floor
I earned $450K a year in interest-based finance. Walking away was the easiest spiritual decision of my life.
Goldman Sachs was everything I’d worked for. Bangladeshi kid from Queens makes it to VP on the trading floor. My parents framed my business card.
The problem was riba. Interest. The thing my entire career was built on. The thing the Quran explicitly prohibits.
I left Goldman at 34. Took a 60% pay cut to join an Islamic finance startup. Three years later, the startup manages $200M in Shariah-compliant assets. I earn less than half what I used to. But I sleep through the night now, and I don’t flinch when the Quran is recited at Jumu’ah.