How is zakat al-mal calculated? A practical guide

## When is zakat due from you? On two conditions together: that your wealth reaches the **nisab**, and that a full **hawl** passes over it. ## Nisab Nisab is the threshold at which zakat becomes due: the equivalent of **85 grams of gold**. Whoever owns that amount or more owes zakat; whoever is below it does not. Nisab is calculated at the gold price on the day zakat falls due on you, not the price on the day you acquired the wealth. Since the price moves, calculate it on the day. ## Hawl A **full lunar year** must pass with the wealth in your possession. The lunar year is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so anyone counting by the Gregorian calendar loses a day or more each year. A dip in wealth during the year followed by recovery does not break the hawl, so long as it did not fall below the nisab. ## The rate **A quarter of a tenth, that is 2.5%.** So whoever owns one million new Syrian pounds after its hawl owes 25,000 pounds. Whoever owns one hundred thousand pounds owes 2,500. Whoever owns one thousand dollars owes 25 dollars. ## What counts - Cash, in hand or in the bank - Gold and silver - Trade goods at their current value, not their purchase price - Savings held for a future purpose ## What does not count - The home you live in - The car you use - Household furniture and everyday clothing - The tools and machinery of your trade ## Debts **Debts due now** are deducted from the pool. Long instalments running over years are a matter of scholarly disagreement, and most hold that one year's instalment is deducted rather than the whole debt. ## A worked example A man has 800,000 pounds in cash, gold worth 300,000, and a due debt of 100,000. Pool: 800,000 + 300,000 − 100,000 = **1,000,000** Zakat: 1,000,000 × 2.5% = **25,000 pounds** ## This is a simplification, not a fatwa For particular cases — companies and shares, deferred debts, rented property, the wealth of minors — ask a qualified scholar, as the details differ with circumstance. ## Where do you pay your zakat? You can pay it through the Zakat al-Mal project at Al-Dahabi, where it is allocated to those entitled to it among the poor and needy inside Syria, and is never mixed with operating costs.