Calculate your zakah, properly.
A complete worksheet — cash, gold and silver, investment and retirement accounts, receivables, trade goods, and the liabilities you may deduct — computing 2.5% of your net zakatable wealth against today’s nisab.
Methodology: Nurturing Mountains: Spiritual and Legal Dimensions of Zakāh and Voluntary Charity by Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar (Sacred Learning, 2025) — Sacred Learning’s widely-used zakah handbook, distributed free. It defaults to scholarly-recommended positions, with every point of difference labeled inline and toggleable. Everything stays in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
New to zakah? Start with Understanding Zakah → — an interactive walk through what zakah is, who pays, what counts, and who can receive it.
Today’s nisab comes from a transparent daily basket of named gold and silver sources (as of 2026-07-26) — see the sources and the averaging formula, or view the consumer page at nisabvalue.com.
Zakah is worked out once a year, on your own date. Let’s settle yours — it only takes a moment, and you keep the same date every year.
This takes a few minutes. You don’t need exact figures — good estimates are fine, and you can adjust anything.
Why these rules — the hawl, the lunar date, the payer poolshow
Once a year, on your Hijri anniversary. Zakah is computed on the lunar date you first crossed nisab. Each year on that date, you pay 2.5% on whatever you hold that day. Fluctuations in between are ignored: money that arrived the week before your date is still counted in full. The one-year holding requirement is about entering the payer pool, not a per-asset clock.
Why lunar, not solar. The lunar year is ~11 days shorter than the solar year, so an annual solar date would skip roughly one to two zakah years over a lifetime. Keep a Hijri date.
Leaving and re-entering the pool. If your net wealth drops to zero (or below) during the year, you leave the pool — your date resets to whenever you cross nisab again. Merely dipping below nisab while staying above zero does not reset the date.
Who pays: every adult Muslim whose net zakatable wealth on their date is at or above nisab. By the position this calculator defaults to there is no zakah on the wealth of minors; schools differ, so follow yours.
Method settingsDefaults set on scholarly recommendation. Open only if you want a different scholarly position.handbook defaults
Why only part of a long-term holding countsshow
For shares held long-term, zakah is owed on the company’s cash-like (zakatable) assets — its cash, receivables, inventory — not its factories and equipment. Most people use the 25% estimate: a 2018 fatwa of Mufti Faraz Adam et al., approved by Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt, derived from balance-sheet analysis of halal-screened FTSE-100 stocks. Precise = compute the actual zakatable-assets percentage from each company’s balance sheet and enter it. Cautious = pay on the full market value. Shares held for trading (next section) are always 100% regardless of this setting.
Classify each holding by your intent at purchase (the handbook’s default): bought to flip/trade → short-term at 100%; bought to hold as an investment → long-term at 25%. If intent is genuinely unclear, a common heuristic is: held under a year → treat as short-term; over a year → long-term.
Hypothetical taxes and penalties don't reduce zakahshow
Retirement savings are fully zakatable even when locked or subject to early-withdrawal penalties — you own the wealth. The taxes and penalties you would pay if you cashed out are hypothetical, so they aren’t deductible. Only if you are actually dissolving the account do the real taxes/penalties reduce the zakatable amount — choose “Net” and enter the actual costs per account. Count only the vested portion; unvested employer match isn’t yours yet (not heritable) and is excluded until it vests.
Two views on benevolent loansshow
The handbook’s worksheet includes loans that are likely to be collected — it’s your wealth, parked with someone else. Some scholars exclude benevolent loans until repayment so that lending to those in need isn’t discouraged. Doubtful or disputed loans are excluded under both views (mark them “doubtful” in section G), and no back-zakah is owed if they’re later repaid.
Why 12 months, not the whole balanceshow
Only immediate liabilities reduce zakatable wealth. For a mortgage, student loan, or car note, that means the next year of payments (monthly payment × 12) — never the full multi-decade balance, which would wipe out most people’s zakah entirely. The alternative position: deduct nothing for long-term debts, and instead pay down what you intend to pay before your zakah date arrives.
ACashAt home, every bank account, and crypto held as savings — 100%Zakatable$0
Crypto counts as cashshow
The handbook treats cryptocurrency held as a store of value (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the like) as a cash-equivalent: include it at market value on your zakah date, at 100%. More exotic positions — staking, liquidity pools, NFTs — are outside its scope; consult your scholar.
BGold & silverCoins, bars, and jewelry — by metal weight or dollar valueZakatable$0
Jewelry IS zakatable (the position this calculator defaults to)show
By default this calculator treats personal-use gold and silver jewelry as zakatable, valued by the weight of its gold/silver content only — weigh the metal and exclude gemstones, pearls, and other materials. Other schools exempt personal-use jewelry from zakah; if you follow one of them, simply leave personal jewelry out.
Non-gold/silver gems (e.g. diamonds) held for personal use are not zakatable at all — they count only when held as trade goods for resale (use section H).
C·DInvestment accountsPer account: cash 100% · trading 100% · long-term 25% · metal ETFs 100%Zakatable$0
Why gold/silver ETFs are always 100%show
A gold or silver ETF is a claim on metal, not a share of an operating company — so the long-term 25% treatment never applies to it. It’s gold in a wrapper: 100% of market value, like section B. Stocks and equity funds bought to trade are 100%; bought to hold long-term, they fall under the valuation method you chose in settings (25%).
E·FRetirement accounts401(k), IRA, pension — vested portion, gross market valueZakatable$0
Locked or penalized — still fully zakatableshow
Retirement wealth is yours, so it’s zakatable at full gross market value even though it’s locked away and early withdrawal would trigger taxes and penalties. Those costs are hypothetical until you actually dissolve the account, so they don’t reduce zakah (change the setting above only if you are genuinely cashing out). Enter only the vested balance — unvested employer match isn’t owned by you (it isn’t even heritable) and joins the calculation only once it vests. The internal split works exactly like a brokerage account: money-market funds 100%, long-term funds 25%, metal ETFs 100%.
GReceivablesMoney owed to you that you expect to collect — 100%Zakatable$0
What counts as a receivable — and what doesn'tshow
Include money owed to you that is likely to arrive: loans to friends and family, unpaid invoices, an expected tax refund — at 100%. Doubtful or disputed debts are excluded until the money is actually in hand, and when it does arrive there is no back-zakah for the years it was excluded. Not receivables yet: future salary, a mahr not yet received, an inheritance not yet distributed — these enter your worksheet only once received.
HTrade goods & inventoryAnything held for resale — at today's retail value, not costZakatable$0
Market value, not what you paidshow
Inventory is valued at what it would sell for today, not its purchase cost. The handbook’s example: phones bought at $100 that now list at $200 are counted at $200 each. This section is also where personal-use gems become zakatable — a diamond held for resale is trade goods.
ILiabilitiesImmediate liabilities only — deducted from your assetsDeducted$0
What you may deduct — and what you may notshow
Deductible: twelve months of payments on each long-term debt (mortgage, student loan, car); credit-card balances and other debts due within 12 months, in full; this month’s rent and bills or property tax that are currently due. Not deductible: the total outstanding balance of long-term debts, and future rent, bills, or taxes that haven’t come due yet.
No zakah due this year
Net zakatable wealth of $0 measured against the gold nisab of $10,260 (87.48 g at $117.28/g, as of 2026-07-26). Your net is below the threshold. If you cross nisab later, that day becomes your zakah date — note it (as a Hijri date) and keep it.
That’s it — your zakah, worked out properly.
The Prophet ﷺ taught that charity given from pure earnings is received by the Merciful and nurtured for its giver — the way one of you raises a young foal — until it becomes greater than a mountain.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim — the “nurturing mountains” hadith
The Qur’an frames zakah as purification: “Take from their wealth a charity to cleanse and purify them” (9:103). And the Prophet ﷺ promised that charity never decreases wealth. What you calculated above is not a loss — it is the portion that purifies the rest.
Who can receive zakah?
The Qur’an (9:60) fixes eight categories of recipient:
- The poor (al-fuqarā’)
- The needy (al-masākīn)
- Those employed to administer zakah
- Those whose hearts are being reconciled
- Freeing those in bondage
- Those burdened by debt
- In the cause of Allah
- The stranded traveler
Tamleek — ownership must transfer. Zakah is only discharged when an eligible person is made owner of the money. It therefore cannot fund masjid or school construction, operating costs, or any institution as such — an institution may only act as your agent passing zakah through to eligible individuals (which is what vetted zakah funds do).
Ineligible: your spouse, your parents and grandparents, your children and grandchildren (support them from other wealth — they’re your responsibility); descendants of Banū Hāshim; and anyone already at or above nisab themselves.
Priority: needy relatives outside the ineligible circle first (the reward of charity plus the reward of upholding kinship), then the needy of your local community, then beyond.
By default this calculator levies no zakah on minors’ wealth (schools differ — under some, a guardian pays it from the minor’s wealth). Not covered by this calculator: agriculture, livestock, and minerals extracted from the earth — and exotic crypto positions (staking, liquidity pools, NFTs) — all outside the handbook’s scope. Consult your scholar for these, and for anything unusual in your situation. Methodology: Nurturing Mountains: Spiritual and Legal Dimensions of Zakāh and Voluntary Charity — Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar, Sacred Learning (2025).
Gold vs silver nisabshow
Nisab is 87.48 g of gold or 612.36 g of silver. The handbook — like many scholars in the West — encourages the gold standard: it tracks the threshold’s value in the Prophet’s ﷺ time more closely and draws a more practical line between those who should pay zakah and those who may receive it. The silver standard is a far lower threshold, so more people pay; some scholars prefer it as more generous to the poor, and many US/UK zakah charities default to it. Either is a valid position.
- Zakatable assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- −$0
- Net zakatable wealth
- $0
- Nisab (gold)
- $10,260
Gold $117.28/g · silver $1.68/g, as of 2026-07-26. Nothing leaves your browser unless you explicitly save it to your account below.
Saves to your Ihsan Standard account so you can resume on any device. Nothing is shared.
Partners can drop the full zakat calculator straight into a donation page. It is free for the ummah — pick a language, theme, and layout, then copy the snippet:
<iframe src="https://ihsanstandard.org/embed/zakat"
width="100%" height="900" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
title="Zakat calculator"></iframe>Live nisab is built in and refreshes daily — embedders never have to update a number. The language you pick is pinned via the URL, so the widget shows it even inside an iframe; your visitors can still switch with the in-widget picker.
Methodology
This calculator implements the worksheet method of Nurturing Mountains: Spiritual and Legal Dimensions of Zakāh and Voluntary Charity, written by Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar and published by Sacred Learning (2025). This widely-used handbook defaults to scholarly-recommended positions and is distributed as a free PDF — read it for the spiritual dimensions of zakah and voluntary charity that no calculator can carry, and for the evidences behind each rule applied here.
Where the schools genuinely diverge — personal-use jewelry, minors’ wealth, the valuation of long-term equity — the calculator defaults to the handbook’s position and labels the divergence inline, with toggles for the main alternative views. Defaults are positions, not verdicts: a calculator does not replace your scholar, especially for agriculture, livestock, mined wealth, or complex crypto, which the handbook deliberately leaves out of scope.
Nisab thresholds use the classical weights of 87.48 g gold (20 mithqāl) and 612.36 g silver (200 dirham) — the same constants used across this site. The handbook rounds these to 87.5 g and 612.4 g; the difference is under 0.03%. Metal prices come from the site’s daily nisab basket (as of 2026-07-26); see the nisab page for every source and the averaging formula.
- Zakah rate
- 2.5% of net zakatable wealth
- Gold nisab
- 87.48 g (20 mithqāl)
- Silver nisab
- 612.36 g (200 dirham)
- Cash · crypto · trading positions · metal ETFs · receivables · trade goods
- 100% of market value
- Long-term equity (default)
- 25% of market value (2018 fatwa of Mufti Faraz Adam et al., approved by Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt, from balance-sheet analysis of halal-screened FTSE-100 stocks); alternatives: precise balance-sheet %, or full market value
- Retirement accounts
- vested portion at gross market value (net of actual costs only if dissolving)
- Long-term debts
- monthly payment × 12 deducted (or nothing, by setting)
- Short-term debts & currently-due bills
- deducted in full
- Threshold rule
- net ≥ nisab → 2.5% of the entire net, not the excess
Our thanks to Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar and Sacred Learning — the worksheet this calculator implements, the rulings it encodes, and the worked examples it is tested against are his contribution to the ummah, taught and released freely. May Allah reward him — جزاه الله خيرًا.
This tool is for guidance, free for the ummah, with no data collection. It is independent of and not endorsed by Sacred Learning; any errors in implementation are ours alone. For the handbook itself — and the spiritual treatment of charity that gives this page its name — visit sacredlearning.org/zakah.