The nisab and the rate of zakat

The threshold of gold and silver

Consensus places zakat on the two currencies, gold and silver, with a known threshold: twenty dinars of gold (twenty mithqal) and two hundred dirhams of silver. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Nothing is due below five awaq of silver » (al-Bukhari 1484, Muslim 979), and: « Nothing is due on less than twenty mithqal of gold nor on less than two hundred dirhams » (reported by Abu Ubayd in al-Amwal 1291).

When you have two hundred dirhams and a year has passed, five dirhams are due, and nothing more; and for gold, nothing until you own twenty dinars: when you have twenty dinars and the year has passed, half a dinar is due, and whatever exceeds is calculated on that basis.Abu Dawud 1573, at-Tirmidhi 616, an-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah 1790

The rate: a quarter of the tithe

The scholars know no disagreement on the rate: a quarter of the tenth, that is 2.5 per cent of the threshold and of any excess, per « on manumission, a quarter of the tenth » (Muslim 987). Ibn al-Mundhir reports consensus on the five dirhams due on two hundred. The threshold applies to gold and silver coined or not, melted or shaped (Ibn Hubayra).

The excess beyond the threshold

The majority (Malikis, Shafiites, Hanbalis and the two companions of Abu Hanifa) take zakat on the excess pro rata, however small: on two hundred and ten dirhams, five on the two hundred and a quarter dirham on the ten. Abu Hanifa leaves a block of forty dirhams: nothing is due on the surplus until it reaches forty dirhams, which carry one dirham, and so on; likewise for gold in blocks of four mithqal. The Companions already differed: Umar on one side, Ali and Ibn Umar on the other.

When is the threshold assessed?

The Hanafis look at both ends of the year: the threshold at start and end suffices, and a drop in the middle breaks nothing even if one dirham remains, provided something is left to which later gains attach. Shafiites and Hanbalis require the threshold throughout the year: a single animal missing during the year interrupts the count, which restarts. The Malikis require the year to run on the threshold or on the capital that produced it, profit and newborn animals joining the origin. For trade goods assessed by value, the reliable Shafii position is the threshold at the end of the year only.

Combining gold and silver to complete the threshold

The majority (Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis in one narration) combine gold and silver: fifteen mithqal of gold and one hundred and fifty dirhams of silver together form a zakatable threshold, each standing in place of the other as money. Shafiites and Hanbalis in the other narration require each category to reach its own threshold, per « nothing is due below five awaq ». Among those who combine, Malik, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad and Ahmad in one narration add the shares of the threshold (three quarters and a quarter); Abu Hanifa and Ahmad in the other convert by value in the way most favourable to the poor.

Acquired wealth mid-year

Three cases: the growth of the same wealth (trade profit, animal offspring) joins the origin and follows its year, without disagreement; wealth of another kind keeps its own year and its own threshold per the majority of schools; wealth of the same kind acquired independently joins the threshold but not the year for Shafiites and Hanbalis, each part being paid at its own date, while the Hanafis gather all at the first date to avoid fragmentation, Abu Hanifa excepting the price of already-zakated wealth. The hadith says: « No zakat on wealth until a year passes over it » (Ibn Majah 1792), and: « Whoever acquires wealth owes no zakat until a year passes over it with its Lord » (at-Tirmidhi 631).