Discover the meaning of the term Al-shirb (شِّرب) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIt is the share of water allotted to lands and the like.
With kasra: in language, conveying water. In the Sharia: the turn of benefiting from water, as watering for crops or beasts. With damma: conveying a thing suddenly, at once, into the belly, among what does not admit of chewing.
Ibn Faris said: the shin, the ra and the ba are one root, measured and constant: the known shirb; what approximates it is then applied to it by metaphor and similitude. One says: 'sharibtu al-ma'a ashribu-hu sharban' (I drank the water); 'sharb' is the masdar; 'al-sharb': the name; 'al-sharib': the people who drink; 'al-shirb': the lot from water. Al-shurb was defined as taking every liquid, water or otherwise; and al-shirb as the share of water for lands and the like. Allah, the Most High, said: 'it has a day of drinking, and you have a day of drinking, known.'
With damma: conveying a thing into the belly whole, among what does not admit of chewing.
Of water or the like: 'sharba': a draught. : Of the fine ear (sinbal): its grain hardened and its ripening drew near.
Its synonym: that which results from explorations by the constancy of transport.
With damma: conveying, such as water, into the belly by the mouth, among what does not admit of chewing; thus mentioned Ibn Kamal (al-Ta'rifat, 132). And al-Raghib said (al-Mufradat, p. 257): 'the taking of every liquid, water or other.'
With vowelling of the shin and sukun of the ra: the masdar of shariba; al-sharab. Drinking (see: sharab). The share of water designated for irrigating a specific tract.