Gold Zakat Calculator — Calculate Zakat on Gold

Zakat on Gold: Karats, Thresholds and Obligations

Gold occupies a special place in Islamic jurisprudence as one of the two metals explicitly mentioned in the Quran regarding zakat. The nisab for gold is 87.48 grams (approximately 7.5 tolas) of pure 24-karat gold. If you possess gold at or above this weight in pure equivalent, zakat at 2.5% of its market value becomes obligatory once a full lunar year has passed.

Understanding Gold Karats

Not all gold is pure. Karat measures the proportion of gold in an alloy. 24-karat gold is 99.9% pure, while 22K is 91.6%, 18K is 75%, and 14K is 58.3%. When calculating zakat on gold, you must convert your gold holdings to their pure gold equivalent. For example, 100 grams of 18K gold equals 75 grams of pure gold — below the 87.48g nisab and therefore not independently zakatable. Our calculator handles this conversion automatically when you select your karat.

Jewellery vs Investment Gold

The treatment of gold jewellery is one of the most discussed topics among Islamic scholars. The Hanafi school holds that all gold — including jewellery worn regularly — is subject to zakat if it reaches the nisab. The Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools generally exempt gold jewellery that is worn regularly and is of a customary amount for one's social standing. If you follow the Hanafi opinion, include all jewellery in your calculation. If you follow other schools, you may exclude regularly worn pieces of reasonable value.

Investment gold — bars, coins, ETFs, and gold held purely for its financial value — is unanimously subject to zakat across all schools of thought. Gold locked in a safe deposit box as a store of wealth is treated the same as cash savings.

Gold Nisab: The 87.48 Gram Threshold

The nisab for gold has been derived from prophetic traditions that set the threshold at 20 dinars. Classical scholars calculated one dinar to weigh approximately 4.374 grams, yielding a nisab of 87.48 grams of pure gold. At current market prices, this represents a significant sum, which is why many scholars recommend using the silver nisab (612.36g) as the threshold instead — it produces a lower monetary value and means more people qualify as zakat payers.

Historical Context of Gold and Zakat

In the Prophet Muhammad's era, gold dinars and silver dirhams were the primary currencies of trade. Zakat on these metals was among the earliest rulings established, predating many of the complex financial instruments we deal with today. The principle remains the same: wealth that sits idle and productive must be purified through an annual 2.5% disbursement. Gold has maintained this status for over 1,400 years of Islamic jurisprudence, making it one of the most well-established areas of zakat law.