The Qur’an recounts stories of humanity’s pinnacle, those who stood valiantly and fully implemented Allah’s teachings throughout their lives. To the lowest of lows, those who attempted to murder the Prophet for spreading the message of Tawheed, the torture they inflicted on the Muslims. But then there’s… us.

We try to do the right thing, but instead often bend the rules to have excuses for our shortcomings or micromanage every aspect of our lives to the point that we burn out and spend hours staring at the ceiling, or even worse, trying our best to find balance surrounded by those who criticize every step we take, leaving us feeling like there isn’t a place for us.

This begs the question: “So what do we do?”

Hold on to the ideal

A fun fact that many people may not realize is that, towards the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there was actually an active interest system. This might seem baffling at first when interest is categorically considered forbidden, and the answer is: bending the rules. Instead of outright charging interest, they would require the purchase of a useless cloth. So you’d pay your debt, interest, and then get handed cloth to make it count as a “purchase.”

How many merchants are participating in these systems, do you think, went along with it, not because they were fooled, but because they viewed usury as “inevitable” and thus implemented it in their financial policies, because of fear of falling behind?

Does this sound familiar?

What if I really don’t have a choice?

This is where the “in-between” comes in: sometimes the fitna in our society leaves us stuck between a rock and a hard place, where either choice we make leads to harm to us in some manner. For example, the majority of credit cards objectively rely on usury to make a profit; however, having a credit score opens many crucial financial opportunities in our society. From renting a car to getting a mortgage (something that makes buying a house slightly possible for the vast majority of people), it is necessary to have a credit score.

The way you get one?

Credit cards.

If you procrastinate on getting one or you refuse to, then you make getting up on your own two feet extraordinarily difficult; but, if you get one willy-nilly, shrugging your shoulders because you personally know how to avoid getting interest fees, then you’re falling into “the worst.”

The solution?

Do your research, find the ones that are the closest to being Sharia-compliant, and then use them responsibly. If you want to take it a step further, teach others how to do the same and make dua that our society somehow leaves these archaic systems behind. It might seem impossible to us, but Allah is All-Powerful, Controller of the Day of Judgement.

So, we do our due diligence, minimize our engagement, and make dua Ar-Rahman (The Most Compassionate) fixes it; that’s the “In-between.”