Gallatin Graduate Rustom Uses Religion as a Business Model
By James Devitt
NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study was established to allow students to design interdisciplinary courses of study that unite their divergent interests, and to bring into close relation many traditionally discrete academic disciplines. Mohammad Rustom, who graduates from Gallatin today, is the type of student the school’s creators had in mind over 30 years ago.
Rustom’s concentration is religion and business—two fields that might appear to present conflicting models of academic engagement. But this combination is one that the 20-year-old New Jersey native thinks will eventually allow him to create a sound business practice.
“Religious teachings are not against making profit,” says Rustom, who took several courses at the Stern School of Business and did independent studies with Khalid Latif, the Muslim chaplain for both NYU and the New York City Police Department. “In fact, they encourage you to go out and make a living through honest means, to do good and not exploit others. This encouragement, of course, goes beyond religion. As human beings, it’s our civic duty to pursue these means.”
Rustom, a Muslim, is particularly focused on interest-free finance, noting that the Koran forbids interest on loans because they “encourage indefinite indebtedness.” However, Rustom notes that trading and selling for profit are permissible under Islamic law because such transactions are not viewed as breeding perpetual debt. This type of financing—Islamic finance or Sharia-compliant loans—is one of the fastest growing. Several of the world’s leading banks and investment companies, including Chase Manhattan, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC, have created services that meet the Koran’s requirements on interest.
Beyond their theological underpinnings, Rustom, who has been working full-time at Lehman Brothers for the past 18 months, sees a larger economic value to interest-free loans.
“Some financial companies make their money on loans with high interest rates, but there is often little risk for them—it’s all on the borrower,” says Rustom. “Prices are dropping, and some homeowners are being left with mortgages worth more than their houses. Risk should be equally divided between the parties.”
While Rustom’s stay at NYU has been a short one—he earned his bachelor’s degree in two and a half years—he leaves behind an organization that is thriving. In the fall of 2005, he co-founded “Two Birds, One Stone” with high school classmate Arcadio Maldonado, who graduates next year from the Stern School of Business. They partnered with Aramark, NYU’s food service provider, to develop a sustainable blueprint for the organization, which collects usable leftover food from NYU dining halls—now up to 40 pounds each day—and distributes it to the homeless through different charitable groups, including the Bowery Rescue Mission and Hebrew Union College.
Rustom begins his new career as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in July.
Mohammad Rustom
