যাকাত সম্পর্কিত নিয়ম (আহকাম) কি কি?

Zakat is obligatory on the gold and silver if they have reached the Nisab and this Nisab passed a year over it, and the Zakat is paid from the whole amount and not only what has surpassed the Nisab. So, whoever owns for example 170 grams of gold and a year has passed over it, then he will need to pay the Zakat of the 170 grams which is the quarter of the tenth of the amount. That is: 4.25 grams of gold or pay a whole Dinar, and he doesn’t pay only for the 85 grams surpassing the Nisab, meaning that he doesn’t bring out only 2.2125 grams of gold or half a Dinar… The situation is the same for the silver, as it is obligatory to pay the quarter of the tenth on the whole amount as long as it has reached the Nisab and a year has passed over it.

The Hukm (rule) of the Zakat on gold specified for pure gold of 24 karats, as well as the Hukm of the Zakat on the silver specified for pure silver, if the gold was mixed with other substances or the silver was mixed with other substances, the weight of those other substances is subtracted according to its amount, where whatever has remained after the subtraction has reached the Nisab. So, if a person owned 85 grams of 18 karat gold, it would not have reached the Nisab because the amount of pure gold in it is less than 85 grams… The Zakat on a block of gold of 24 karats is different from a block of the same weight and of 18 karats, and the pure gold when accounting for the Nisab would make the Nisab of the gold of 24 karats 85 grams, but the Nisab of the gold of 18 karats would be more than that because it is mixed with materials other than gold being a quarter of the amount. Therefore, the gold of 18 karats has pure gold in it equal to ¾ of the gold of 24 karats, and upon that the Nisab of the gold of 18 karats is 1 and 1/3 of the Nisab of the pure gold which is 113.33 grams. Upon that, whoever owning 85 grams of pure gold of 24 karats would have reached the Nisab, so if a year has passed over it, he will need to pay the Zakat of 2.5% of its weight, but the one who owns 85 grams of gold of 18 karats has not reached the Nisab until what he owns reaches 113.33 grams, and if a year has passed over it, then he has to pay the Zakat of 2.5% of its weight, and it is clear here that the meaning behind the Zakat is on pure gold.

The Zakat is an individual ritual (Ibada) which is not obligatory on the money of the Muslim until it has reached the Nisab, so if a man owns 60 grams of gold and his wife owns, for example, 60 grams of gold, then there is no Zakat on neither his money or her money, even if the total of which they have together has surpassed the Nisab. It is only when the money of either one of them only has reached the Nisab, then the Zakat becomes obligatory on the money that has reached the Nisab. So, if the money of the husband has reached for example and he came to own 120 grams of gold, then he is obliged to pay the Zakat on his money, and he doesn’t combine his wife’s money; the 60 grams of gold.

If the money qualified for Zakat is paper currency, or trading merchandise, it is considered either Nisabs that is either the Nisab of the gold or the Nisab of the silver. However, if both Nisabs differ such as what is happening nowadays where the Nisab of the silver is very less in value than the Nisab of the gold, what I see if that the estimation shall happen with the least of the Nisabs, meaning the Nisab of the silver and not the gold. I say the least of the Nisabs because if the Nisab reached the lowest then it became qualified for Zakat and it is prohibited to bypass it in order to wait for the higher Nisab. He shall rather record the date when it qualified for Zakat, then after one year passing, he should pay the Zakat, as the Zakat is a right for the poor and the needy… ﴿إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ…﴾ “Zakat are only for the poor and the needy…” [At-Tawba: 60], ﴿وَالَّذِينَ فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَعْلُومٌ * لِلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ﴾ “And those in whose wealth there is a known right * For the needy and the deprived” [Al-Ma’arij: 23-24], and the Prophet ﷺ said: «فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَدَقَةً فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ وَتُرَدُّ عَلَى فُقَرَائِهِمْ» “And inform them that Allah has mandated upon them a Sadaqa (charity) from their money which is taken from their rich and given back to the poor.” (Narrated by Bukhari). Upon this, it is the benefit of the rightful owner that is taken into consideration, and based on that the Nisab is calculated based on the lesser amount, meaning that it is calculated for the Nisab of the silver.

As for the method of calculating the Zakat, when the money reaches the Nisab the year count starts, so if the money reached its Nisab on the 10th of Muharram of the year 1437 AH, then paying Zakat on it becomes obligatory on the 10th of Muharram of the next Hijri year of 1438 AH. If the amount money has increased, it will join the previous amount and are counted as together when a year has passed over it. For example, if a person owned 100 grams of gold starting from the 10th of Muharram of the year 1437 AH, then used this gold in a trade where he gained an additional 150 grams until the 10th of Muharram of the next Hijri year 1438 AH, he must pay the Zakat of 250 grams of gold because the new money is the result of the old money, and so the rule is applicable to it… However, if new money was gained after the 10th of Muharram of the year 1437 AH without it being earned from the previous money, such as being gifted to him or he inherited it, then this new money has its own year to pass over it. So, if he owned it for example on the 10th of Shaban of the year 1437 AH, then he must pay Zakat for it on the 10th of Shaban of the year 1438 AH and not on the 10th of Muharram in the year 1438 AH because the date accounted for both monies are different…

If a person forgets the date of his money reaching Nisab, then he should estimate and take into consideration when making the estimate the interest of the beneficiaries of the Zakat because they have a right in receiving this money which has more priority over his right even though he is the owner of this money… Therefore, if his estimation is somewhere between the months of Muharram and Shabaan, let him make the beginning of the year at the beginning of the month of Muharram and not the month of Shabaan, as this is better for him in his Deen, bi’thinallah.