Zakat on Gold: Nisab, Incremental Dues and Jewelry

1. The gold nisab: twenty mithqals

لَيْسَ فِيمَا دُونَ عِشْرِينَ مِثْقَالًا مِنَ الذَّهَبِ صَدَقَةٌ.
Translation: No zakat is due on gold below twenty mithqals.

The starting gold nisab is twenty mithqals. Gold below that amount does not, when assessed on its own, reach the independent gold nisab.

Here “sadaqah” refers to obligatory zakat, not to every form of voluntary charity.

2. The mithqal and modern weight

A mithqal is a historical weight standard for gold, not a count of modern coins. The form of the gold may change, but the weight and gold content remain central to nisab.

This edition gives approximately 7.5 tolas, or about 88 grams, for twenty mithqals. It is an approximate conversion; an actual assessment should use a defined weight standard and the quantity of pure gold.

3. Zakat after a completed year

فَإِذَا كَانَتْ عِشْرِينَ مِثْقَالًا، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ: فَفِيهَا نِصْفُ مِثْقَالٍ.
Translation: If it amounts to twenty mithqals and a year passes over it, half a mithqal is due.

Two conditions are stated together: the twenty-mithqal threshold and completion of the zakat year. When these and the other general conditions are met, the due amount is half a mithqal.

4. Half a mithqal and one-fortieth

One-fortieth of twenty mithqals is half a mithqal: 20 ÷ 40 = 0.5. This is rubʿ al-ʿushr, or 2.5 percent.

Thus the basic amount is assessed at 2.5 percent of the threshold. The jurists differ, however, about when a further amount becomes due on small increments above twenty mithqals.

5. Nineteen versus twenty mithqals

Nineteen mithqals: the independent gold nisab has not yet been reached.

Twenty mithqals: the threshold is met; half a mithqal is due if the zakat year and other conditions are satisfied.

This comparison concerns gold assessed independently. Combining various zakatable assets is a separate subject not addressed by this passage.

6. Initial nisab and amounts above it

Two questions must be distinguished: when gold zakat first becomes due, and how an amount above twenty mithqals is assessed.

The first threshold is twenty mithqals. The second question concerns increments of four mithqals, qirats, and differences among the jurists.

The original nisab and the later increment are separate measures.

7. Two qirats per four mithqals

ثُمَّ فِي كُلِّ أَرْبَعَةِ مَثَاقِيلَ: قِيرَاطَانِ.
Translation: Then two qirats are due for every four mithqals.

A qirat is a smaller weight unit of gold. The rule expresses the additional due as two qirats per four mithqals.

Two qirats per four mithqals also amount to 2.5 percent. The difference among jurists concerns whether that increment must be complete.

8. How qirats relate to a mithqal

In this calculation, one mithqal equals twenty qirats, so two qirats equal 0.1 mithqal.

Likewise, 2.5 percent of four mithqals is 0.1 mithqal. These are two descriptions of the same amount due.

This makes the relationship between “qiratan” and one-fortieth explicit.

9. Zakat on twenty-four mithqals

At twenty mithqals, half a mithqal is due. At twenty-four mithqals, a complete additional block of four has accrued.

Two more qirats, or 0.1 mithqal, are added to the original half. The total is 0.6 mithqal: 0.5 + 0.1.

At this boundary, Abu Hanifa and the two companions reach the same amount.

10. Calculating twenty-eight and thirty-two mithqals

Twenty-eight mithqals: eight above the initial twenty, or two complete four-mithqal blocks. The due is 0.7 mithqal.

Thirty-two mithqals: twelve above twenty, or three blocks. The due is 0.8 mithqal.

Both amounts consist of complete increments, so the disagreement over fractions does not arise.

11. Abu Hanifa: incomplete increments

وَلَيْسَ فِيمَا دُونَ أَرْبَعَةِ مَثَاقِيلَ صَدَقَةٌ عِنْدَ أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ.
Translation: According to Abu Hanifa, no additional zakat is due on an increment below four mithqals.

Half a mithqal is due at twenty. The due does not increase until another full four mithqals have accumulated.

Accordingly, for more than twenty but less than twenty-four mithqals, the original half-mithqal due remains unchanged under this view.

12. Twenty-one and twenty-three: Abu Hanifa

Twenty-one mithqals: half a mithqal is due on the initial twenty; the extra one does not add another due amount. Total 0.5 mithqal.

Twenty-three mithqals: the extra three do not complete a four-mithqal block, so the total remains 0.5 mithqal.

This is the treatment of an incomplete increment, not a denial of gold nisab or of the basic zakat rate.

13. The companions: proportional assessment

وَقَالَا: مَا زَادَ عَلَى الْعِشْرِينَ فَزَكَاتُهُ بِحِسَابِهَا.
Translation: Abu Yusuf and Muhammad say that any gold above twenty mithqals is assessed proportionately.

Under the companions’ view, every increment is included at its proportionate rate. There is no requirement to wait for another full four mithqals; amounts such as twenty-one or twenty-three are assessed on their full amount.

14. Numerical examples under the companions

21 mithqals × 2.5% = 0.525 mithqal.

22 mithqals × 2.5% = 0.55 mithqal.

23 mithqals × 2.5% = 0.575 mithqal.

Every fraction above twenty is assessed at one-fortieth. These decimals denote fractions of a mithqal by weight, not separate coins.

15. Where the disagreement affects the result

At twenty-three mithqals, Abu Hanifa’s assessment is 0.5 mithqal, while the companions’ assessment is 0.575.

At twenty-four mithqals, both methods give 0.6 mithqal.

The difference appears when the new four-mithqal block is incomplete. They agree about the original twenty-mithqal threshold and the basic one-fortieth rate.

16. Juristic basis of the two methods

Abu Hanifa treats the prescribed incremental blocks as controlling: a new due is not added until a complete four mithqals have accrued.

Abu Yusuf and Muhammad apply the one-fortieth rate to every portion beyond twenty, even a partial block.

The same kind of disagreement arose over silver increments of forty dirhams. In both chapters, the point of dispute is the fractional excess.

17. Bullion, jewelry, and vessels

وَفِي تِبْرِ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَحُلِيِّهِمَا وَالْآنِيَةِ مِنْهُمَا زَكَاةٌ.
Translation: Zakat is due on raw gold and silver, jewelry made of them, and vessels made of these metals.

Tibr means uncoined or raw metal; huli is jewelry; and aniyah are vessels. This rule does not make gold or silver zakat depend solely on being coins or trading stock.

18. Tibr: uncoined gold and silver

Tibr refers to gold or silver held in raw or uncoined form, such as pieces of metal rather than minted money.

The underlying issue is ownership and sufficient quantity, not whether the metal has already been struck into coins. If nisab and the other requirements are fulfilled, its raw form does not remove the zakat obligation.

Raw bullion and minted gold are different outward forms of the same metal.

19. Gold and silver jewelry

Huli includes ornaments made from gold or silver. In the Hanafi school, such jewelry remains zakatable property if the threshold and other conditions are met, whether it is worn or stored.

The purpose of use and the zakat status of the metal are distinct questions. Permissible personal wear does not, under this position, erase the gold or silver’s financial character.

20. Shafi‘i disagreement concerning jewelry

The Hanafis hold gold and silver jewelry liable to zakat when nisab and the other requirements are satisfied.

Under the well-known Shafi‘i position, jewelry kept for permissible personal use is not liable: it is treated as an article of use rather than merchandise or stored monetary wealth.

The Hanafi reasoning treats gold and silver as intrinsically zakatable wealth whose status is not erased by fashioning them into jewelry. Reports about jewelry are also discussed in this context.

21. Evidence discussed regarding jewelry

The Quran warns those who hoard gold and silver without fulfilling their due obligation:

وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
Translation: Those who accumulate gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of Allah… (Quran 9:34, relevant excerpt).

The Hanafis invoke the general zakat texts together with narrations about jewelry. Those exempting permissible ornaments differ in how they characterize personal-use property and read the specific evidence.

22. Vessels made of gold or silver

“Al-aniyah minhuma” refers to vessels made from gold or silver. Fashioning the metal into a vessel does not, by itself, remove its zakat liability when the threshold and other general conditions are met.

The prohibition on using gold and silver vessels is a distinct issue. Prohibited use does not extinguish the zakat status of the underlying wealth.

23. Why changing the form does not remove zakat

Gold may be held as a coin, bar, ornament, or vessel. In Hanafi law, its underlying metal remains gold despite the change in form.

Its form alone therefore does not automatically remove zakat liability. Nisab, pure-metal content, the year, and other ownership conditions still apply.

This rule does not classify every valuable object as gold; it is about the specific metals gold and silver.

24. Comparing gold and silver thresholds

Gold: twenty-mithqal nisab; half a mithqal initially due; two more qirats for each complete additional four mithqals.

Silver: two-hundred-dirham nisab; five dirhams initially due; one more dirham for each complete additional forty dirhams.

Both have the basic one-fortieth (2.5%) rate. In both, the jurists differ about the fractional amounts between incremental thresholds.

25. Consolidated juristic result

The independent gold nisab is twenty mithqals, with half a mithqal due after the relevant year.

Every additional full four mithqals adds two qirats under Abu Hanifa’s step-based rule; the companions assess every excess proportionately.

Bullion, jewelry and vessels made from gold or silver remain zakatable under the Hanafi rule. The Shafi‘i exemption for permissible personal-use jewelry is a separate disagreement.