New book encourages Muslim women to build wealth aligned with faith

NINA MOINI: A new book is helping Muslim women take control of their personal finances while adhering to their values. It's called Prosperity With Purpose-- a Muslim Woman's Guide to Abundance and Generosity. The book is written by Nausheena Hussain, a nonprofit leader and consultant, who joins me now on the line. Thanks so much for your time today, Nausheena.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Hi, Nina, thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: I understand this is your first book. Congratulations.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Yes, it is. Thank you.

NINA MOINI: How does it feel? How does it feel to complete this?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Oh, it's an amazing journey that I've been on, and it just feels really incredible right now. Feeling blessed.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I'm sure a lot of work, a lot of intention went into this. And also, you have a background in philanthropy, finance, which is all the ingredients you would need to write something like this. Tell me a little bit about your background.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Yeah, so I did start out in the corporate world and then took a transition and moved into the nonprofit sector. I like to call myself a serial entrepreneur of nonprofits. But I also went back to school. I did a master's degree in philanthropic studies at Indiana University, and now I'm actually pursuing my doctorate in philanthropic leadership. And so my research is all around Muslim women-led nonprofits, and the resilience leadership skills that they employ in order to have successful nonprofits.

NINA MOINI: So you're busy! You're doing your doctorate, you're writing a book. Why was it really important for you to write this book? What were you noticing?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Well, I had my own personal finance journey. As a child of immigrant parents in a system that doesn't necessarily have resources for somebody like me, I was on my own journey to figure things out. And as a learner, I felt like I want others to know about all the resources that are out there.

But also, I need a book that is by us, for us. And so that's what this book is about, is not just the personal finance aspect of being economically empowered and financially stable, but I want us to move from being rich and actually caring about the causes that are out there that really speak to our heart. So I feel like we are here to save the world-- or make it better, at least-- through our philanthropic generosity.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, tell me about those values. I mean, obviously, we never want to say all Muslim women are the same-- there's millions, and different experiences across the world. But how do you see finances usually talked about among Muslim women?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: I think the conversation about money is difficult, regardless of what faith you practice, or what community you come from. I think that is one of the first steps I want to change in our community is to have these conversations-- a transformation of our relationship with money. I think Muslim women can be rooted in their Islamic principles when it comes to finance, and money, and generosity.

I think in the Western world, in the United States, there's a real emphasis on individualism. But what I see with Muslim women is a real collective care approach to everything that they do. They are absolutely generous. They are worried about justice, and equity, and caring for those who are around them, and it's not just about them.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. The idea of halal, giving back, and generosity, and community. It is a tough time for a lot of people right now. I wonder if you see people wanting to be generous in that way, but they're just trying to get by. Is that some of the stuff your book tries to balance for people?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Well, I also want to change this conversation around what is generosity, and what is philanthropy. Because I think when we think about somebody who is philanthropic, we think immediately about the money that they are donating and giving out into their community.

NINA MOINI: Right.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Which absolutely is one way to look at it. But, as somebody who's studying philanthropy, we talk about the five T's. We have our time, our talent, our treasure, our ties, and our testimony.

NINA MOINI: Oh, I love that!

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: This is something that I talk a lot about. And the back half of the book is about we don't need to be the millionaires to constantly give back, especially to these nonprofits and our communities. We're giving our time. Sometimes the talent that we have, we know how to use it for other organizations' benefit. We also use our voice and provide testimony to the missions that we believe in.

And then we bring our network along. I have always seen Muslim women, she never shows up alone to anything. She's always bringing her family, her sister, her friends along in making the world a better place. And so that is probably a great takeaway from this book is you are philanthropic. You need to just redefine what philanthropy is.

NINA MOINI: And the idea of community in conjunction with your personal finances. And I wonder what you think are some of the obstacles Muslim women, or maybe women in general, face when it comes to personal finances.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Unfortunately, Nina, there are so many obstacles and barriers. I think when we look at what women in general have to face, we are talking about the gender wage gap. We are talking about gaps in debt, and who gets to borrow money. And where does venture capital go? I think less than 0.2% of venture capital even makes it to women-owned startups and businesses.

And so when you have these inequities, Muslim women then have an intersectional barrier. Because now we've got, she's also a Muslim, so there's this anti-Muslim hate. Sometimes we call it gendered Islamophobia. And then if she is of a different race, then you add in that racial aspect to it.

And many of us are either children of immigrants, or we are immigrants and refugees. And so now we have to learn an entirely new system, and navigate in order to get our personal finances to be in a stable way, and to be able to grow that. So there's a real intersection of different kinds of barriers and obstacles that women face. But for Muslim women, it's even more heightened.

NINA MOINI: Right. Have you had anybody read it, Muslim women friends or family of yours? What feedback are they giving? Are they like, oh, I never knew about this, or I never knew about that? What are you hearing?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Well, so far what I'm hearing is there's nothing out there that is written for us. And so the beginning pages of the book, people are just so happy to be seen-- the representation aspect of it.

NINA MOINI: Right.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: I just saw my first review on Amazon this morning, and so I've got to read it a little bit more. But this was written by someone who is actually not Muslim who read the book. And she talks about how she learned so much that could be applied to her own charitable giving. She really appreciated me sharing my personal experience, adding in the historical context, and then just giving practical guidance.

And so I think to see this book isn't just for Muslim women, but it's also for anybody who wants to do something with their financial situation. Nina, I'm not an expert. I'm not a financial advisor. I'm somebody who has a lived experience that may resonate with you. And so I think that's really exciting to see.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And I think that is often what's needed is more people with lived experiences, to your point about the for us, by us. Any one piece of advice, Nausheena, that you would want to leave women with when it comes to their finances? We have about 45 seconds left. Any one thing you want to hit for people?

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: I think have these conversations with other women, with your sisters, with your daughters. This, I think, is the first step in understanding what are finances? Where you are in your own financial journey? And then with those conversations, start taking concrete steps in making yourself a little bit more knowledgeable in the space, and then being able to have that stability and empowerment.

NINA MOINI: Take action and learn what you can. Nausheena, thank you very much for your time, and congratulations.

NAUSHEENA HUSSAIN: Thank you, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Nausheena Hussain is the author of Prosperity With Purpose-- a Muslim Woman's Guide to Abundance and Generosity.