Salam! Thank you for the assistance. I am inquiring about an internship offer I received that can turn into a full-time job. The position is as a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual. The job involves selling insurance (life, disability, etc.), doing financial planning, managing wealth of clients, etc. I would aim to avoid aspects of the job involving debt investments for clients to grow wealth, but is there any other impermissible aspect of the job and is the job overall halal?
May Allah bless you.
It is not permissible to advice on debt products or any other financial investment that bears interest. Similarly it is not permissible to sell conventional insurance policies.
I don’t have the details of the role you are going for, so I cannot tell you which other duties can be or cannot be permissible from a shariah perspective.
However, we Muslims are well behind in the development of our future generation.
The sad truth of today is that, an Islamic business or financial institution, will employ people with experience in the conventional system. Not because they want to, but because there is a lack of human resources in the field of Islamic Finance. Isn’t it time for those institutions to create an environment where we can nurture and train those who will drive this industry forward?
Until this day comes, my opinion is that, if someone needs to do an internship within a conventional financial institution, then it can be tolerated. However, one must make the intention, and must strive to move away from this system as soon the experience is acquired, and to seek an appropriate halal role in an Islamic financial institution.