Zakat is due every lunar year on individual's Zakat anniversary. It is an Islamic date each year you pay zakat on (i.e. one year after you possess above nisab value (minimal zakatable-amount) and your net assets have not reached or dropped below zero. If they have then your Zakat anniversary date will reset to the date when your assets reached to nisab value again.
To calculate Zakat person needs to add all his zakatable assets together and deduct debts. “Zakatable assets” includes: (but not limited to)
(a) Cash – whether in currency form or in the bank,
(b) Gold and Silver,
(c) Money lent out,
(d) Trade goods. (Any item purchased with the sole intention of selling, e.g property, car, mobile etc)
(e) Stocks, and
(f) Agricultural produce.
After one calculates the above, one deducts:
(a) Debts, and
(b) Immediate expenses.
The Ḥadīth concerning Zakāt
The books of Ḥadīth are full of narrations talking about all aspects of Zakāt. We have already seen how Zakāt can benefit a person in this world, but how else can they be rewarded?
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رضى الله عنه قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " مَنْ تَصَدَّقَ بِعَدْلِ تَمْرَةٍ مِنْ كَسْبٍ طَيِّبٍ وَلاَ يَقْبَلُ اللَّهُ إِلاَّ الطَّيِّبَ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَتَقَبَّلُهَا بِيَمِينِهِ ثُمَّ يُرَبِّيهَا لِصَاحِبِهِ كَمَا يُرَبِّي أَحَدُكُمْ فَلُوَّهُ حَتَّى تَكُ
At the time of Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wasallam the value of
One Dinar (gold coin) = Ten Dirhams (silver coins)
The Niṣāb value is owning wealth over a certain amount of silver or gold.
Gold Niṣāb
The value of gold is based upon 20 Mithqāl (gold dinar coin) which was a weight used in the time of Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam and in today’s time the Mithqāl would weigh 4.374g.
20 x 4.37g = 87.4g
Silver Niṣāb
The value of silver is based on 200 Dirhams . Again, a dirham used to have a weight - 3.0618g per dirham.
200 x 3.0618g = 612.36g
What is the Niṣāb Value?
In today’s prices (13th March 2021) the value is as follows:
|
Commodity |
Weight |
Price per gram |
Niṣāb Value (13/03/21) |
|
Silver Niṣāb |
612.36 grams’ |
£0.59 |
£361.29 |
|
Gold Niṣāb |
87.48 grams’ |
£39.35 |
£3442.33 |
At the time of writing, If a person has £361.29 then they are known as Ṣāḥibe Niṣāb.
If a person owns a mixture of Assets, like gold and silver and cash etc., then they will use the silver value as a minimum threshold.
If for some reason a person only owns gold and they have no other productive assets apart from gold, then they would use the gold value as a minimum threshold.
Calculate Niṣāb value on the day you discharge it.
On the day you are going to discharge your Zakāt, i.e. your Zakāt anniversary, calculate the Niṣāb value that day. You can get the latest value from https://zakatcalc.com/nisab
1- Sadaqah al-Fitr/Zakat-ul-Fit'r/Fitrana
2- Fidyah
3- Kaffarah
Your wealth or net assets can be summed up as the liquid assets you possess minus your short term liabilities.
Liquid assets are those that can be transformed into cash very easily. Short term liabilities include your bills, rent, personal loans and credit card debts. Most scholars agree that any mortgage at full value that you may hold, should not be included in that calculation.
Here’s a list of things that should be included in your assets:
Cash in the bank and at home
Cash saved for any special purposes e.g. wedding, Hajj, car purchase, marriage etc.
The value of gold and silver you own
The value of shares at their market price
Money owed to you, which is highly likely to be repaid
If you own a business, the balance sheet value of the stock(s) you possess.
If you own properties, any rental income that has been saved
You do not need to count the value of your home which you live in as part of your assets.
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