Zakat Calculator

Zakat is an annual charge of 2.5% on qualifying wealth held for a full lunar year. It is not a donation and it is not discretionary — it is one of the five pillars, and the Quran names the eight categories of people entitled to receive it in Surah At-Tawbah 9:60. The calculator above applies the 2.5% rate to the assets you enter and checks them against the Nisab threshold so you can see whether anything is due at all.

The Nisab threshold

Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must hold before Zakat becomes obligatory. It is defined by the value of a fixed weight of precious metal, which means it moves with the bullion market rather than being a fixed sum of money.

Because silver is far cheaper per gram than gold, the silver Nisab is usually a small fraction of the gold Nisab in currency terms. Choosing the silver standard is the more cautious and more commonly advised option, and it is the reason two calculators can give different answers for the same portfolio. IslamQA discusses the Nisab calculation in detail, and Islamic Relief's Zakat guidance sets out the same thresholds.

What is zakatable and what is exempt

The dividing principle is simple: Zakat falls on wealth that is capable of growth or that is held as savings, and it does not fall on the tools of ordinary living. The table below is the one to work through before you enter anything into the calculator.

If your net zakatable wealth is below the Nisab you owe nothing this year, and no liability carries forward. If you have an Islamic home finance arrangement, only the current year's payment is normally deductible — the Islamic mortgage calculator works out what that payment actually is.

When Zakat is due

Zakat becomes due when a full lunar year — the hawl — has passed since your wealth first reached the Nisab, and it falls due on that anniversary each year. Note that it is a lunar year of about 354 days, not a solar one, so the date drifts roughly eleven days earlier every Gregorian year. Most people pick a fixed date, a Ramadan date, or the day they first calculated, and the Hijri date converter will give you the corresponding Islamic date so the anniversary does not creep. Many Muslims deliberately bring the payment forward into Ramadan for the reward, which is permitted; the obligation itself is still fixed by the hawl.

Zakat al-Fitr is a separate, smaller obligation paid before the Eid prayer at the end of Ramadan, and it applies to every member of the household rather than to wealth — Islamic Relief explains Zakat al-Fitr here. The two are frequently confused because both fall in Ramadan.

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