Embezzlement has happened from the beginning of Islamic era until now. In hadiths narrated from Imams embezzlement is defined in different ways. There are two famous viewpoints about the whatness of embezzlement: the first one defines it as secretly stealing a unprotected object, and the second one defines it as openly stealing something in streets or alleys without force or weapon. This concept is also defined in law but incompletely and incomprehensively. The results of this study show that according to hadiths the whatness of embezzlement in Shia jurisprudence is: “Overtly and rapid stealing of something without force or weapon when its owner is unaware”. But in law it can be defined as: “State employees’ betrayal of people’s assets entrusted to them”.