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How to calculate zakat, step by step

By Sami Adham · Published: 2026-10-29

Zakat is a matter of the heart, but on the day itself it is also a sum: one line of addition, one line of subtraction, one comparison and a single percentage. Here is that sum, taken slowly, so that you can do it once with care and then do it every year with ease.

Short answer: On your zakat date, add up the zakatable wealth you own, take off the debts your school allows, and compare the total with the nisab (85 g of gold or 595 g of silver; scholars differ on which). If you are at or above it, and a lunar year has passed on that wealth, zakat is 2.5% of the total: one fortieth.

Have your figures ready? Use the free zakat calculator. It works in any currency, shows both nisab views side by side, and keeps every number on your device.

Step 1: choose your zakat date

Zakat on money, gold, silver and trade goods is due once a lunar year (the hawl) has passed on wealth at or above the nisab. A lunar year is about 354 days, so your zakat date moves about 11 days earlier each solar year. Crops are different: they have no year and are counted at harvest.

Many people pay in Ramadan. Paying before your zakat date is allowed once you own the nisab in the Hanafi, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools; the Maliki school allows only a short time early. Whatever date you choose, keep it: the same day each lunar year makes the sum honest.

Step 2: add up what you own

Cash and money in any account you own, at home, in a current or savings account, or in a payment app.
Gold and silver. Count the pure metal: grams × karat ÷ 24. Worn jewellery is where the schools differ most; our guide to zakat on gold sets out the views.
Shares. Shares you trade count at market value. For long-term holdings, count the zakatable part of the company's assets; counting 100% is the cautious option. If the company already pays zakat, you do not pay it again.
Money owed to you that is likely to be repaid: counted every year (International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Res. 1 (2/1)). A doubtful debt is not counted now; when you receive it, the schools differ on how many years to pay for.
Business stock: at its current market value on your zakat date.

Not counted: your home, car, furniture and the tools of your work. End-of-service pay you have not yet received: you do not yet fully own it (International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Res. 143, item 6(a)); once received, it joins your savings. A pension you cannot withdraw is not counted until you receive it. Interest earned is to be given away, and it is not zakat.

Step 3: take off what you owe

Here the schools differ, and the difference can be large. The Hanafi and Hanbali schools take debts off your zakatable wealth before the nisab test. The Maliki school takes them off cash, gold and silver, unless you own other goods beyond your needs that could pay them (Khalil, al-Mukhtasar). In its new (later) view, the Shafi'i school does not. One contemporary view takes off only what falls due within the next 12 months, so that a long mortgage does not wipe out the zakat of a person with real savings. Our calculator follows that contemporary view and says so; ask the scholar you follow which one you take.

Do the numbers now. The zakat calculator fills a dated reference price for gold and silver in 50 currencies, shows the gold and silver nisab side by side, and gives a range when the views differ. It sends nothing anywhere.

Step 4: compare with the nisab

The nisab is the minimum wealth on which zakat is due. Its classical weights are 20 mithqal of gold and 200 dirhams of silver. Common modern conversions give 85 g of pure gold and 595 g of pure silver; Hanafi-weight variants of 87.48 g and 612.36 g are also in use.

Which metal sets the line? The silver nisab is lower, so more people reach it, and many hold it as the choice that brings more benefit to the poor. Many contemporary scholars, among them al-Qaradawi, use the gold nisab. If all your wealth is gold, the gold nisab applies; if it is all silver, the silver nisab.

At the world spot prices we took on the morning of 29 October 2026 (before any shop margin), the two lines stood far apart: gold nisab about US$11,018.55 (85 × 129.63) and silver nisab about US$1,009.89 (595 × 1.6973). Prices move every day. The calculator's reference prices are refreshed with each site update, so they may differ from these figures; it shows their date, and a price you type replaces them.

Step 5: take 2.5%

On money, gold, silver and trade goods, zakat is 2.5% (rub' al-'ushr, a quarter of a tenth). The quickest way: divide the total by 40. Crops (10% or 5%) and livestock (by a schedule) follow their own rules.

Worked example (our own figures, in US$, at the morning spot prices of 29 October 2026):

Savings 9,000 + current account 2,500 + traded shares worth 3,000.
30 g of 18-karat gold kept as savings: 30 × 18 ÷ 24 = 22.5 g pure × 129.63 = 2,916.68.
Total zakatable wealth: 17,416.68. A card bill of 1,500 falls due this month.

Debt taken off (Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki when no spare goods cover it, and the 12-month view): 15,916.68 ÷ 40 = 397.92. Debt not taken off (Shafi'i new view): 17,416.68 ÷ 40 = 435.42. Both totals are above both nisab lines, so the only question is the debt.

Is zakat due on my salary?

In the four schools, a salary is not charged as it arrives. What you save from it joins your wealth, and on your zakat date you count what is left. The schools differ on new money received during the year: the Hanafi school adds it to the wealth you already hold and counts it on the same date; the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools give each new sum its own year, though many people pay everything on one date, which counts as paying the newer sums early.

Some contemporary scholars hold that zakat may be paid on earned income when it is received (al-Qaradawi, Fiqh al-Zakah, the chapter on earned income), and this is the practice of some official bodies, such as Indonesia's BAZNAS. If you follow that view, ask your scholar or your country's zakat body for its rules.

Five mistakes we see often

Counting only the savings account and forgetting cash, gold kept as savings, or money owed to you.
Counting the gross weight of jewellery instead of the pure gold.
Using last year's metal price. Check the price on your zakat date.
Counting end-of-service pay before you have received it.
Mixing zakat with zakat al-fitr. They are separate: our article on zakat and sadaqah explains the difference.

Why the sum matters

The Quran calls the giving of zakat a cleansing: it cleanses the giver of sins (al-Tabari; Ibn Kathir) and, other commentators add, of miserliness (al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghayb). The verse came down about a group who confessed a fault; commentators apply it to zakat in general. Its Arabic text is at the end of this article. A careful sum is part of that cleansing: what is owed reaches its owner, no more and no less.

Work it out

Open the zakat calculator, choose your currency and type your figures: it shows both nisab views and names the schools where they part ways. Then see the official bodies on where to pay zakat.

Please note

This article explains how zakat is commonly calculated, for general learning. It is not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar or your country's zakat authority. Mustahaqat does not collect or pass on zakat or charity.

هذا المقال للتعريف العام بطريقة حساب الزكاة وليس فتوى. لحالتك الخاصة راجع عالماً مؤهلاً أو جهة الزكاة الرسمية في بلدك. موقع مستحقات لا يجمع الزكاة ولا الصدقات ولا يوصلها.

Compiled from cited sources; ask a scholar you trust for your own case. This is not a fatwa. Drafted with AI help and checked against the sources listed. Sami Adham is a professional name, not a scholar or mufti.

Quran cited

﴿خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِم بِهَا وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ إِنَّ صَلَوٰتَكَ سَكَنٌ لَّهُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾ [9:103]

Meaning (our own wording): Take from their wealth a sadaqah (here: zakat) to cleanse them and make them grow by it, and pray for them: your prayer is a comfort to them. God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Sources

Corrections

2026-10-29: First published. Fiqh wording follows our source review; the example uses the reference prices of 29 October 2026.
2026-10-29: Review: added the Maliki view on debts (Khalil, al-Mukhtasar); the example's prices are now labelled as the morning spot prices of 29 October, since the calculator's reference prices refresh with each site update.