Zarf is a lafz with Persian origins and is used often in Urdu literature and poetry and means endurance, high capacity, wisdom. Kam-zarf is the opposite with means narrow minded, person with low wisdom or one with low moral values
Here is a couplet by Ali Jawad Zaidi with the lafz :
Kam-zarf ehtiyat ki manzil se aaye hain
Hum zindagi ke jaada-e-mushkil se aaye hain
The unwise ones have come from a place of caution and comfort
We have come from a place of difficulties in life (and thus are wise)
Another couplet by Haidar Ali Aatish:
Jo aala-zarf hote hain hamesha jhuk ke milte hain
Surahi sar-nigun ho kar bhara karti hai paimana,
Wise people are also the most humble (they meet with their head bent)
Even the wine flask needs to bend, to fill wine in the glass
(Source: rekhta.org)
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