When Should Zakat be Paid?

Question

I don’t understand how people pay their Zakat in Ramadan every year. I thought it had to be that you pick the date from when you reach Nisab and pay on the same date next year according to the lunar calendar. Can you explain this to me?

Also, for example, I started paying Zakat in June 2022, and I have not gone under the threshold all year, so when would my Zakat anniversary be?

Also, I have gold which was bought in October 2021. Do not pay anything on that for one year. Does that mean I must pay that in October 2023 or with the regular Zakat anniversary (money)?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.

I don’t know how people manage to time their Zakat so it is due in Ramadan, but delaying one’s Zakat payment beyond its due date is not permitted, and Allah knows best.

Zakat becomes obligatory once one lunar year passes on a zakatable amount of wealth. Please note that the considered date should be taken from the lunar, not the solar calendar.

According to the Shafi‘i School, each zakatable amount of wealth is given its own lunar year. The gold (assuming it is zakatable) should be paid for after one lunar year passes, and Allah knows best.

Obligation

Zakat is obligatory:

• for every free Muslim (male, female, adult, or child);
• who has possessed a zakat-payable amount (nisab – the minimum that necessitates Zakat)
• for one lunar year. [Nawawi, al-Minhaj]

Zakat on Jewelry

Zakat is not compulsory on lawful, permissible jewelry that is not excessive if the lady uses her jewelry (even once a year) and does not hoard it as an investment. Accordingly, you owe Zakat on the jewelry you forgot about if you did not wear it for more than a year. And Allah knows best. [Ibn Hajar Haytami, Hawashi Sharwani Wa Ibn Qasim ‘Abbadi ‘Ala Tuhfat al-Muhtaj Bi Sharh al-Minhaj; Karaan, Shafi‘iFiqh.com]

Please visit this answer for further details.

Gold and silver in other forms (not permissible jewelry) are Zakatable, and Gold and Silver cutlery are unlawful.

Please refer to a previously answered question on using Gold and Silver cutlery here.

Excessive Jewelry

If her jewelry is excessive, Zakat is compulsory for all of it. Excessiveness is determined by what is considered more than the norm according to the customs of her community.

For example, women in certain Arab cultures may receive jewelry weighing a kilogram or more on the occasion of their marriage. Thus,  the norm in such communities is that women own such quantities of jewelry. Accordingly, Zakat is not payable on it.

On the other hand, a woman who owns a kilogram of jewelry in another society may be regarded as owning an excessive amount of jewelry. Consequently, she will have to pay Zakat for all of it.

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.