Short answer
If gold is all you own, zakat is due once you have held 87.48 g (7.5 tola) of gold for a lunar year, by the Hanafi reckoning; many others use 85 g. If you also have cash, silver or other zakatable wealth, the lower silver nisab applies to the total, so less gold is enough. Zakat is 2.5 percent: a quarter tola on every 10 tola.
The nisab of gold is 20 mithqal, given in Hanafi fatwas as 7.5 tola or 87.48 g. Gold below it becomes zakatable when, added by value to cash, silver or trade goods, the total reaches the silver nisab. Zakat is one fortieth of the gold, paid in gold or its value.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Gold and silver are not added together to reach the nisab, and jewellery worn in a permitted way is exempt.
- Maliki
- Worn jewellery is exempt; gold and silver are combined to reach the nisab.
- Hanbali
- Worn jewellery is exempt; in the main view gold and silver are combined to reach the nisab.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said nothing is due on gold until you have twenty dinars. A dinar weighed one mithqal, which Hanafi scholars in South Asia give as 4.374 g, so twenty make 87.48 g or 7.5 tola. Many other bodies use 85 g, based on a slightly lighter mithqal.
Whether that threshold applies to you depends on what else you own:
- Only gold, nothing else zakatable: zakat is due if the gold reaches 87.48 g. With 7 tola of gold and no cash or savings at all, nothing is due.
- Gold plus any cash, savings, silver or business stock: add their values together and compare the total with the silver nisab. A few tola of gold with a modest bank balance usually reaches it (see gold or silver nisab).
Karat matters too. Jewellery that is more than half gold, such as 22k, 21k or 18k, counts as gold by its full weight for the nisab, and its zakat is worked out on its market value. Stones are left out.
How much is due: one fortieth, 2.5 percent. By weight that is:
- 1 tola: 0.025 tola, about 0.29 g.
- 10 tola: a quarter tola, about 2.92 g.
- 100 g: 2.5 g.
You may give that weight in gold, or its value in money on your zakat date. In the Hanafi school this includes gold you wear (see zakat on jewellery). See today's figures on the nisab page, and let the zakat on gold calculator do the karat maths.
The evidence
Quran, Surah At-Tawba 9:34
۞ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْأَحْبَارِ وَٱلرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَٰلَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْبَٰطِلِ وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ ٱلذَّهَبَ وَٱلْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍۢ ﴿٣٤﴾
O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah - give them tidings of a painful punishment.
Gold kept without paying its due is condemned.
Sunan Abi Dawud 1573
Graded sahih... وليس عليك شيء حتى يكون لك عشرون دينارا ...
"Nothing is due from you until you have twenty dinars."
The nisab of gold is twenty dinars.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the zakat of gold. No zakat below twenty mithqal; half a mithqal on twenty; gold that is mostly gold counts as gold.
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the zakat of wealth. Gold, silver and trade goods are combined by value to complete the nisab.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.