Short answer
On mahr you have received, yes: it is your wealth and is zakated with your other savings and gold. On mahr still owed to you, such as deferred mahr, the Hanafi school says no zakat is due until you receive it. The husband subtracts only mahr he owes that is due now.
Mahr the wife has received is her property and zakatable like any of her wealth. Mahr not yet paid is a weak debt (dayn da'if) in Abu Hanifa's view, so no zakat is due on it until it is received and a lunar year passes over it, or it joins her existing zakat year if she already owns the nisab.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Mahr owed by a husband who is able to pay is a debt owed to the wife; she pays zakat on it for the past years once she receives it.
Explanation
Mahr belongs to the wife alone. Once she has it in hand, whether as cash or gold, it is part of her wealth like anything else she owns. She adds it to her other zakatable wealth on her zakat date and pays 2.5 percent if the total reaches the nisab. Gold jewellery given as mahr is zakatable in the Hanafi school even if she wears it; see zakat on jewellery you wear.
Mahr that has not been paid yet, most often deferred mahr payable on divorce or death, is different. In the Hanafi school it is a weak debt, because it was not given in exchange for wealth. She owes no zakat on it while it is unpaid, and nothing for the past years once she gets it. When she receives it, it joins her wealth from then on. See what is deferred mahr.
For the husband: prompt mahr he still owes and his wife is asking for is a debt due now, so he subtracts it from his zakatable wealth. Many Hanafi muftis say deferred mahr that is not being claimed does not reduce his zakat, because it is not due yet. See do debts reduce your zakat.
A wife with gold above the nisab but no income pays its zakat from her own money, may sell a little of the gold, or may let her husband pay it for her with her permission.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:4
وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ صَدُقَٰتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةًۭ ۚ فَإِن طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَن شَىْءٍۢ مِّنْهُ نَفْسًۭا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيٓـًۭٔا مَّرِيٓـًۭٔا ﴿٤﴾
And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease.
Mahr is the wife's own property.
Sunan Abi Dawud 1573
Graded sahih... ليس في مال زكاة حتى يحول عليه الحول ...
"There is no zakat on wealth until a year has passed over it."
Zakat waits for a year of ownership, which is why unpaid mahr is counted only once it is in her hands.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, on the three kinds of debt. Mahr is a weak debt: no zakat until it is received and a year passes.
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, on debts that prevent zakat. The discussion of whether deferred mahr reduces the husband's zakat.
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.