Rehan Azhar built Comprehensive Rehab Consultants into one of the nation’s largest physiatry groups before its recapitalization with York Private Equity in 39 months. The healthcare executive describes his operational approach as informed by Islamic principles that he argues align with practices common among successful businesses.
“I think they’re actually very aligned, surprisingly,” Azhar said. “I think generally a lot of successful business people believe in karma, believe in doing the right thing for yourself, for your employees, for your community.”
His management decisions at CRC—from employee compensation to facility standards—reflected teachings he identifies as central to his faith but also fundamental to building sustainable healthcare organizations.
Charitable Giving and Resource Allocation
Islamic teaching includes guidance that charitable contributions should represent genuine sacrifice relative to one’s means rather than comfortable amounts that require no commitment.
“If you donate an amount and it’s not painful, you probably haven’t given enough,” Azhar said.
Azhar established a donor-advised fund after CRC’s recapitalization, directing funds toward educational facilities in Pakistan, domestic violence shelters, and community centers. His charitable work emphasizes permanent assets—buildings and physical spaces serving communities for decades—rather than recurring operational costs requiring continuous fundraising.
This philosophy extended to how he managed CRC. When an employee needed a home loan, the company provided direct financial assistance. “One of our employees, for example, needed a loan for a home. And so we just fronted him the money because we trusted him and he was a great employee,” Azhar said. “Why not? We had the money, we could do it. It was a big deal for him.”
The decision reflected talent retention strategy alongside principles about supporting employees who contribute to organizational success.
Service Quality and Operational Standards
CRC’s model centered on providing hospital-level specialty care directly within skilled nursing facilities, eliminating costly patient transfers while improving outcomes. Success required consistent service delivery that built trust with facility administrators.
“A lot of times it just comes down to looking at situations and doing the human thing,” Azhar explained. “The most successful businesses generally have good customer service, they have good design and branding, whatever it might be. Both faith and business support the idea of excelling in your craft, in your trade.”
Customer service, facility standards, and clinical quality followed logic that Azhar describes as simultaneously ethical and practical. Strong service quality builds reputation. Fair treatment of partners generates referrals. These dynamics work across timeframes—short-term relationship prioritization can generate long-term advantages as those relationships compound.
Honesty and Transparency
Both Islamic ethics and effective business practice emphasize honesty. Deception may produce short-term gains but damages reputation and relationships over time.
“When you negotiate, don’t take advantage of people, treat them well. Treat them like you’d want to be treated yourself. If someone’s struggling, help them out. You can be flexible on policies and rules,” Azhar said.
These principles guided CRC’s relationships with skilled nursing facilities, clinicians, and patients. Building trust required transparency, following through on commitments, and addressing problems promptly. Partners who trust an organization refer others. Employees who feel valued recruit talented colleagues.
Azhar previously managed global partnerships at Airbnb, overseeing relationships with real estate brokerages, hardware manufacturers, and financial services companies across China and India. Success depended on maintaining trust across cultural and geographic boundaries through consistent demonstration of fair dealing.
Conservative Financial Management
Islamic finance principles emphasize avoiding excessive debt and maintaining conservative capital structures. Azhar and his co-founder took a measured approach to hiring and expansion at CRC.
“We waited so long to actually hire corporate team members because we didn’t want to have to lay them off later,” he explained. “My co-founder and I were very conservative with hiring because we took our employees’ livelihoods very seriously.”
This conservative approach reflected both ethical concerns about employment stability and business judgment about managing growth. Rapid hiring followed by layoffs damages morale and reputation. Careful hiring and retention builds organizational capabilities that compound over time.
CRC’s growth from startup to one of the nation’s largest physiatry groups in 39 months required maintaining quality while scaling rapidly—demanding systematic attention across all functions.
Community Investment
Islamic tradition emphasizes community support and collective welfare. Business success creates obligations to contribute to the communities that enabled that success.
Azhar’s philanthropic work focuses on projects that build community capacity rather than providing temporary relief. Funding for schools, domestic violence shelters, and community centers creates assets serving populations over decades.
“I’ve always been someone that’s wanted to give back to my community. I grew up with pretty humble beginnings, never had any significant means, but even still, I gave the amounts I could along my career,” he said.
This approach treats giving as an obligation rather than a discretionary charity. Community support enabled individual success, creating reciprocal duties to strengthen those communities for future generations.
Azhar has also raised funds for political campaigns, viewing civic engagement as another form of community investment.
Operational Implications
Azhar’s framework suggests that decisions appearing to require choosing between ethics and effectiveness may present false choices. Practices that build trust, treat people fairly, and deliver genuine value tend to succeed because they reflect principles about human interaction that transcend any particular tradition.
“I think there’s a lot of business principles and faith principles that really align in terms of be honest, be in good spirit, good faith,” Azhar said.
This doesn’t eliminate genuine ethical dilemmas or suggest that following religious principles guarantees business success. Market dynamics, competitive pressures, and resource constraints create real tensions. But recognizing overlap between faith teachings and sound business practice can inform decisions more often than assuming the two spheres operate according to different logic.
Azhar’s experience building CRC, managing global partnerships at Airbnb, and supporting charitable initiatives demonstrates this integration across multiple contexts. The same principles that guided his approach to employee relations, customer service, and partnerships also shaped his philanthropic investments and political engagement.
The relationship between faith and business principles isn’t about applying religious teaching to secular activity. It’s recognition that successful organizations operate according to principles that major faith traditions have articulated for centuries—honesty, fair dealing, excellence in work, community support, and treating others with dignity.