How to calculate zakat on wealth

Key facts

• Rate: 2.5% of net zakatable wealth.
• Nisab: the value of 85 g of gold or 595 g of silver, at today's price per gram.
• Hawl: one Hijri (lunar) year — 354 or 355 days, never 365.
• When it starts: the day your wealth first reaches the nisab.
• What it's paid on: everything you hold on the completion day, including money added during the year.

How do I calculate my zakat?

1. Add up your zakatable assets: cash, bank balances, gold and silver, shares, trade goods and money owed to you that you expect to receive.
2. Subtract debts that are due now.
3. Compare the result with the nisab (85 g of gold or 595 g of silver at today's price).
4. If it is at or above the nisab and a full Hijri year has passed since you first reached it, pay 2.5% of the total.

Example: gold is 100 per gram, so the gold nisab is 8,500. You reached it on 1 Ramadan with 9,000 and hold 20,000 on 1 Ramadan the next year. Zakat is 2.5% × 20,000 = 500 — on the whole balance, not just the 9,000 you started with.

Should I use gold or silver for the nisab?

The nisab was set at 20 mithqal of gold (about 85 g) and 200 dirhams of silver (about 595 g). Today these are worth very different amounts, so the choice matters:

• Gold (85 g): the higher threshold, preferred by many contemporary scholars because silver's value has fallen.
• Silver (595 g): the lower threshold, so more people pay zakat. Many Hanafi scholars prefer it because it benefits the poor.

Some Hanafi scholars, especially in South Asia, use 87.48 g of gold and 612.36 g of silver.

What if my wealth drops below the nisab during the year?

This is where the schools of thought differ:

Majority view (Jumhur: Shafi'i, Hanbali, Maliki)

If your wealth falls below the nisab at any point, the hawl breaks. It starts again the next time you reach the nisab.

Hanafi view

The nisab is needed only at the start and the end of the year. Dips in between don't reset it — unless the wealth is lost entirely.

Example: you reach the nisab in Muharram, fall below it in Rajab and reach it again in Sha'ban. Under the majority view your hawl restarts in Sha'ban, so zakat is due the following Sha'ban. Under the Hanafi view the dip doesn't matter: zakat is due the following Muharram, as long as you have the nisab then.

Other points scholars differ on

• Debts: most schools deduct debts that are due; the later Shafi'i position does not. Many contemporary scholars deduct only what is due now, not a whole mortgage.
• Jewellery: the Hanafi school requires zakat on gold and silver jewellery; the other three schools generally exempt jewellery worn for personal use.
• Gold purity: zakat on gold is on its pure gold content — 18-karat gold is 75% gold.
• Money received during the year: the Hanafi school adds it to the existing hawl. The other schools give new money (such as salary) its own hawl, but paying early on all of it at once is accepted by most scholars.

How Zakat Records helps

Zakat Records is a free calculator and yearly record, in Arabic and English:

• Records your assets and debts, valuing gold and silver by weight at the price you set.
• Keeps a balance history and tracks your hawl in the Hijri calendar — from a date you know, or estimated from when you first reached the nisab.
• Applies the Jumhur or Hanafi rule on dips, and shows exactly how each result was calculated.
• Saves each year's zakat so you can mark it as paid and compare years.
• Needs no email or phone number — just a username and password.

Open Zakat Records

Frequently asked questions

What is the nisab for zakat?

The value of 85 grams of gold or 595 grams of silver at the current price per gram. Below it, no zakat is due.

How long is the hawl?

One Hijri year of 354 or 355 days, starting the day your wealth first reaches the nisab.

How much zakat do I pay?

2.5% of your total zakatable wealth on the day the hawl completes.

Are debts deducted before calculating zakat?

Most schools deduct debts that are currently due; the later Shafi'i position does not.

Is Zakat Records free?

Yes — free, in Arabic and English, with no email or phone number.