Extravagance

Commentary writing on the Holy Qur'an has been a very important matter due to the position of this book among Muslims. Many works have been written in this field since long ago. One of the important points regarding the interpretations is their effect on the understanding of the Book by ordinary people and as a result, forming a public discourse of the Holy Qur’an. Extravagance (isrāf) is a Qur’anic term that occurs 23 times in this Holy Text. The discourse in the general culture of the meaning of extravagance brings the misconception that it has only a material and economic meaning. Based on this concept, many commentators have taken the task of justifying some of the uses of extravagance, such as “asrafū ‘alā anfusihim.” This research intends to answer the doubt by using etymological methods and structural semantics, in library tools. It concludes that there are two types of extravagance in the Holy Qur’an: first, the economic and material extravagance that is related to the consumption and can be seen in usages such as “kulū wal-shrabū wa lā tusrifū”. Second, which results from the application of the two mentioned methods, is equal to the mental state arising from excitement, greed, and lust. This meaning does not necessarily relate to the consumption, but appears in applications such as “lā tusrif fī al-qatl”.