Zakat on Gold in Islam: Nisab, Rules and How to Calculate

Gold is the most common form of savings in many Muslim families, and the question of how much zakat is due on it comes up every year. This page covers the rules for gold, silver, cash and savings in one place. It does not cover the other pillars of Islam, and it does not replace asking a qualified scholar about your own case.

Is Zakat Obligatory on Gold?

Yes. Allah warns those who keep gold and silver and do not spend from it in His way (Quran 9:34), and the Prophet ﷺ taught the amounts and the rate. Zakat purifies wealth (Quran 9:103), and Allah describes it as “a recognised right for the needy and the deprived” in the wealth of the believers (70:24-25).

Zakat is due on gold when three things are true together:

1. You own it fully.
2. Your zakatable wealth has reached the nisab.
3. That wealth has stayed at or above the nisab for one full lunar year, called the hawl.

Nisab for Gold and Silver: 85 Grams or 87.48 Grams?

The nisab is the minimum amount of wealth above which zakat becomes due. It is fixed by weight, so the number of grams does not change, though its price does. You will see two sets of figures online, and both come from the same hadith. The difference is only in how the old units are converted into grams.

The Prophet ﷺ set the gold nisab at twenty dinars (Abu Dawud 1573) and the silver nisab at two hundred dirhams, which is five awqiya (Sahih al-Bukhari 1447). A dinar is one mithqal. Counting a mithqal as about 4.25 g gives 85 g. The Hanafi measure counts it as 4.374 g, which gives 87.48 g, the same as 7.5 tola, since one tola is about 11.664 g. In Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, people mostly speak in tola for this reason.

The gap is only a few grams, and it matters only if you are close to the limit. Follow the figure your own school or local scholar uses. If you are unsure and you are near the line, many people take the lower figure so they do not miss a duty.

How to Calculate Zakat on Gold

1. Weigh your gold in grams. If it is 22k or 21k, multiply by the karat divided by 24 to get the pure-gold weight. For example, 100 g of 22k gold is 100 × 22 ÷ 24 = 91.7 g of pure gold.
2. Check it is at least 85 g (or that your total wealth reaches the nisab).
3. Take today’s price per gram of 24k gold from a reliable source.
4. Multiply weight by price to get the value.
5. Pay 2.5% of that value.

Use the price on the day you pay, not the day you bought. The nisab date is your zakat date each year, so many people choose one fixed date, such as 1 Ramadan, and calculate everything on it.

The quick per-gram method

Since the rate is 2.5%, zakat per gram of pure gold is the gold price multiplied by 0.025. As an example, if one gram of 24k gold costs 100 in your currency, then zakat per gram is 2.5. For 120 g of pure gold, the zakat is 120 × 2.5 = 300. These are made-up numbers to show the method, so use your own price on your zakat date.

Zakat Calculator for Gold, Silver and Savings

Enter your own numbers and today’s prices. The calculator runs in your browser and does not save or send anything. It is a guide, not a fatwa.

Zakat on Worn Gold Jewellery

This is the part where scholars differ, and it is better to say so than to pick one view and call it the only one.

In practice, follow the position of the school or scholar you normally ask. If you are unsure and can afford it, giving zakat on the jewellery is the safer option, since it satisfies both views.

Investment Gold: Bars, Coins, Gold Funds and Shares

Gold kept as savings or as an investment is zakatable. Scholars do not differ on bars, coins and gold held for the purpose of keeping or selling it, since this is wealth held for growth or safekeeping.

• Gold bars and coins: zakat on the full value, at today’s price.
• Digital gold and gold savings accounts: if you own the gold itself and can take it or sell it, treat it like bars.
• Gold funds and shares in gold companies: most scholars treat them as investments held for profit, so zakat is on the market value on your zakat date. Contemporary scholars discuss the details, so check with yours if the amount is large.

When and How to Pay Zakat on Gold

• Timing: on the date one lunar year after your wealth first reached the nisab. Many people fix a date such as 1 Ramadan and calculate everything then, because the giving and the reward feel greater in that month. If you choose that date for convenience, make sure it is not later than the date your year is actually complete.
• Form: you can pay 2.5% of the gold itself or its value in cash. Paying in cash is easier for the recipient, and giving in gold is allowed by many scholars when the zakat is on gold.
• Who gets it: the eight categories in the section below.

What Is Not Included

• The house you live in and the car you use personally.
• Clothes, furniture and personal items you use.
• Gold that has not reached the nisab on its own, if your total zakatable wealth is also below the nisab.

For things like pension funds, shares and gold held through a fund, the rulings vary with how access and ownership work. Take that question to a scholar with your actual details.

Who Can Receive Zakat?

Allah lists eight categories in Quran 9:60.

Zakat cannot go to your parents or children, whom you must support anyway, or to your spouse in most scholars’ view.

Common Mistakes

• Using the price when the gold was bought. Use the current price on your zakat date.
• Counting karat gold as if it were pure. Convert it to pure-gold weight first.
• Forgetting other wealth. Your cash and savings are added to your gold when working out whether you reach the nisab.
• Delaying. Once zakat is due you should pay it promptly, not leave it until the end of Ramadan only for convenience.

Frequently Asked Questions