Discover the meaning of the term Srft (سرفت) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readSarrafat the mother her child, in sarfan: to spoil him with excess of milk. Asrafa: to overstep the measure. In the Noble Revelation: 'O children of Adam!
Wear your adornment at every mosque, and eat and drink, but do not be excessive: He does not love the excessive' (Al-A'raf, 31); to go to excess in pleasures. In the Noble Quran: 'Say: O My servants who have been excessive against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah: Allah forgives all sins. He is the Forgiving, the Merciful' (Az-Zumar, 53); to spend on what is not fitting; hence the word of Allah, the Most High: 'And those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a just balance between the two' (Al-Furqan, 67); to contravene what is due.
In the Noble Quran: '... and let not that one be excessive in the killing: he will surely be aided' (Al-Isra', 33); to err; to be ignorant; to be heedless. Al-israf: overstepping the limit in every word or deed, but it is most common in spending; what one has spent outside obedience: hence Sufyan al-Thawri said: whatever I spend outside the obedience of Allah is israf, even if little.
At-tabdhir: squandering. Al-Kirmani said: verification requires a distinction between the two: israf is employing the thing where it is proper but beyond the fitting measure, while tabdhir is employing it where it is not proper. According to the Hanafis: using the thing beyond the legal need; overstepping the limit in spending; spending much wealth on a vile purpose.
According to the Zahiris: every expenditure Allah has forbidden, small or large; squandering on what is not needed by necessity, to the point that no wealth remains with the spender; wasting wealth, even little, by casting it into futility. According to the Ibadis: giving wealth where the Law or manliness requires withholding it; destroying wealth, squandering it and spending it without religious benefit or worldly gain. As-saraf: overstepping the limit in any deed, but it is most common in spending; one says: this water ran off in sarfan: without irrigation or benefit; intense passion for the thing.
As-sarif: one says: he is sarf al-'aql (of little reason), sarf al-fu'ad (heedless). As-surfah: the silkworm (plural: sirf).