Short answer
Yes, if you own the nisab. Zakat is due on wealth you hold, not on income, so students, homemakers, retirees and people between jobs pay it on savings, gold and other zakatable assets above the nisab for a lunar year. If your zakatable wealth is below the nisab, you owe nothing.
Zakat is fard on every adult, sane Muslim who owns the nisab beyond debts and basic needs for a lunar year, whether or not they earn. A wife with her own gold pays its zakat herself: from other money of hers, by selling a small part, or by letting her husband pay it with her permission.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Jewellery worn in a permitted way carries no zakat, so a homemaker whose only wealth is her worn jewellery owes none.
- Maliki
- Worn jewellery is exempt, as in the Shafi'i school.
- Hanbali
- Worn jewellery is exempt, as in the Shafi'i school.
Explanation
Zakat is a charge on wealth you keep, not on what you earn. The Prophet ﷺ tied it to owning a set amount for a year: if you have 200 dirhams and a year passes over them, five dirhams are due. Whether that wealth came from a job, a gift, an inheritance or savings makes no difference.
Some common cases:
- A student with savings, a scholarship balance or crypto above the nisab pays zakat on them. A student whose money is below the nisab after debts due owes nothing, and may even be eligible to receive zakat.
- A homemaker with gold or silver jewellery owes its zakat in the Hanafi school, even with no income (see zakat on jewellery). If she has no cash, she may pay from the gold itself or sell a small piece, or her husband or a parent may pay for her with her permission.
- Someone between jobs living on savings pays on what remains on their zakat date, if it is still at or above the nisab.
- A retiree pays on savings and investments held, not on the pension as it is paid (see zakat on pensions).
A Hanafi detail helps people whose savings go up and down. What counts is owning the nisab at the start and end of your zakat year. If your savings dip below it during the year but are above it again on your zakat date, zakat is due on what you have. If they fall to nothing, the year starts again when you next reach the nisab.
See who has to pay zakat and zakat on salary.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Aal-i-Imraan 3:180
وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ بِمَآ ءَاتَىٰهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ هُوَ خَيْرًۭا لَّهُم ۖ بَلْ هُوَ شَرٌّۭ لَّهُمْ ۖ سَيُطَوَّقُونَ مَا بَخِلُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۗ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَٰثُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌۭ ﴿١٨٠﴾
And let not those who [greedily] withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. And Allah, with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted.
Whatever its source, wealth Allah has given carries its due.
Sunan Abi Dawud 1573
Graded sahih... فإذا كانت لك مائتا درهم وحال عليها الحول ففيها خمسة دراهم ...
"If you have two hundred dirhams and a year has passed over them, five dirhams are due."
Zakat depends on owning the nisab for a year, not on earning.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, opening section. The conditions of zakat: Islam, adulthood, sanity, full ownership of the nisab and a year.
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, on a shortfall of the nisab during the year. A drop below the nisab during the year does not matter if it is complete at both ends.
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.