Discover the meaning of the term Shfa (شفع) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readThe thing 'shaf'an': joining to it its like. Making it a pair: hence their saying 'I made the prayer unit two (shafa'tu ar-ka'a)': I doubled it. For someone: to be his intercessor; in the Qur'an: 'whoever intercedes with a good intercession will have a share of it, and whoever intercedes with a bad intercession will have a share (kifl) of it; God is over all things guardian' (an-Nisa', 85); al-muqit: the preserver, the accountant, the witness. Ibn Hajar said: the rule of good intercession is what the Law permits of it, not what it does not. Toward someone: to seek nearness by a means. In a matter: to be its intercessor. Shaffa'a: intensive of shafa'a. Accepting someone's intercession in a matter; one says he is mashfu' (his intercession is accepted) and he is mashfu' (accepting of intercession). Ash-shafi': the intercessor. The ewe with her lamb. Ash-shafa'a: the intercessor's word. Joining oneself to another as his defender and intercessor; most often used for one of higher rank joining one of lower; hence intercession on the Day of Resurrection; in the Qur'an (Ya-Sin, 22-25): 'why should I not worship Him who created me, to whom you will be returned? Shall I take gods besides Him? If the Merciful wills me harm, their intercession avails me nothing... I believe in your Lord, so listen.' With al-Jurjani: it is the asking to pass over the sins of the one against whom the offense occurred. Ash-shaf': what another was paired with (plural ashfa', shifa'); the opposite of the odd (al-watr); the day of sacrifice; in the Qur'an: 'by the even (ash-shaf') and the odd' (al-Fajr, 3), that is, the day of sacrifice, and the day of 'Arafat. Ash-shaf'a: the two units of the forenoon prayer (ad-duha); shaf'a: joining. The (evil) eye; one says: a shaf'a struck him, an eye. Madness; the mad one: mashfu'. The two duha units. In the Law: a compulsory right of ownership established for the older partner against the newer partner in what was acquired for a price (al-Ansari). In the Law: the partner's taking of the portion his partner sold, from the buyer, for the price paid (al-Husayn as-San'ani). In the Law: the forced transfer of the parcel to the preemptor for what he paid (at-Tamartashi). The property on which preemption was exercised. In the Mejelle (art. 950): the co-owner's taking of ownership of what the buyer bought, to the amount of the price the buyer paid. Ash-shafi': the intercessor; in the Qur'an: 'warn them of the approaching Day, when hearts are at the throats, choking; the wrongdoers will have no intimate friend and no intercessor obeyed' (Ghafir, 18); the approaching day is the Day of Resurrection (plural shufa'a). The holder of the right of preemption; with the Malikis: the seller's partner; with the Ja'faris: any partner in an undivided share able to pay the price. In the Mejelle (art. 951): he to whom the right of shuf'a belongs. Al-mashfu': passive participle.
It is the opposite of the odd, that is, two prayer units; the root of shaf' is joining a thing to its like.