Discover the meaning of the term Al-israf (إسراف) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIt is spending much wealth on a lowly purpose.
Exceeding the limit in expenditure; it is said: that a man eat what is not lawful to him, or eat of what is lawful above the mean and the amount of need. It is said: israf is exceeding in quantity, so it is ignorance of the measures of rights.
Expending the thing in what is fitting, in excess of what is fitting; unlike tabdhir (squandering), for that is expending the thing in what is not fitting.
Spending much wealth in a lowly purpose.
In language: exceeding the aim; one says 'asrafa fi mali-hi': he spent without measure and placed wealth other than in its place; 'asrafa fi al-qawl wa-l-qatl': he was excessive. As for the sarf Allah, the Most High, forbade, it is what is spent other than in obedience to Allah, whether little or much. It is also tabdhir (squandering), neglect, and error.
Iyas ibn Mu'awiya said: 'whatever by which one exceeds Allah's command is sarf and israf.' In the meaning of tabdhir: al-Shafi'i (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'tabdhir is spending wealth other than in its due, and there is no squandering in doing good'; and that is the majority's saying. Al-Suddi said, of 'and do not be excessive':
Spending much wealth in a lowly purpose (al-Ta'rifat, p. 23); it may be said sometimes in consideration of quantity and sometimes of quality; hence Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'what is spent other than in obedience is sarf though little'; al-Raghib mentioned it (al-Mufradat, p. 230).
Expending the thing in what is fitting, in excess of what is fitting, unlike tabdhir, for that is expending the thing in what is not fitting; thus said al-Sayyid.