Zakat on gold, silver and jewellery

Zakat on gold is due from 85 g of pure gold (twenty mithqals) and on silver from 595 g of pure silver (two hundred dirhams), after one year; the rate is 2.5%. It is due on gold and silver in all forms: bars, coins, tableware, jewellery kept as savings or for sale.

The Diyanet uses 80.18 g of gold; Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, 85 g of 21-carat gold. See today’s nisab.

You count the pure gold: weight × carat ÷ 24. A 40 g bracelet in 18 carat contains 30 g of pure gold; in 21 carat, 35 g; in 22 carat, 36.7 g. A slight alloy that hardens the metal does not count (Ibn ‘Uthaymin). Jewellery is weighed without its stones.

This is the great difference of opinion on the subject:

• Hanafi school: zakat is due on gold and silver jewellery, even when worn; this is also the view of Ibn Baz and Ibn ‘Uthaymin, based on the general wording of the verses and hadiths on gold and silver;
• Maliki, Shafi‘i and Hanbali schools: no zakat on a woman’s lawful jewellery that she wears, like other personal-use items; ‘A’isha did not pay zakat on the jewellery of the orphan girls in her care.

In every opinion, zakat is due on jewellery kept as savings, intended for sale, forbidden (gold worn by a man) or excessive compared with normal use. The 6th Symposium of the Kuwait Zakat House sets the conditions of the exemption: lawful use, jewellery actually worn, a present need, intact jewellery, a normal quantity.

To reach the nisab, gold and silver are added together in the Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools; in the Shafi‘i school and according to Ibn ‘Uthaymin, each must reach its own nisab. Cash and trade goods are added to gold and silver according to all.

Precious stones (diamonds, pearls, rubies) are not liable unless they are for sale (agreement of the scholars). White gold is gold (Kuwait Zakat House; Permanent Committee). Platinum is not dealt with in the sources consulted: failing an opinion, it follows precious stones (no zakat unless for trade) — a point to confirm with a scholar.