Nisab: Gold, Silver and the Zakat Threshold

Nisab is the minimum amount of qualifying wealth that makes zakat due. If your net zakatable wealth stays below it, zakat is not obligatory on that wealth; once it reaches nisab and a full lunar year has passed, the usual rate is 2.5%. The threshold is defined in gold and silver, so its value in dollars, pounds or riyals changes whenever metal prices change. That is why this guide gives you the method and the evidence, not a number that would be out of date within weeks.

Where the nisab comes from

The Quran makes zakat an obligation and warns those who hoard gold and silver without spending in Allah's way (Surah At-Tawbah, 9:34). The thresholds themselves come from the Sunnah. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said there is no zakat on less than five awaq of silver, and the narration gives five awaq as 200 dirhams, with 20 dinars for gold (Bukhari 1447).

Ali reported another wording in Abu Dawud: when you possess two hundred dirhams and a year passes, five dirhams are payable; for gold, nothing is due until it reaches twenty dinars, and then half a dinar is payable after a year (Abu Dawud 1573). Both thresholds therefore come with the same rate: five out of 200 dirhams and half a dinar out of 20 dinars are each 2.5%. The same hadith shows the second condition, that the wealth is held for a year.

Converting to grams

Dinars and dirhams are old units, so modern guidance converts them to grams. Zakat.org states the nisab as the value of 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver (Zakat.org). Other bodies publish slightly different gram figures from different conversions of the historic units, so a difference of a few grams between two reputable sources is normal. Pick the authority you follow and stay with it.

Karat matters when you hold jewellery or mixed-metal items. Gram weights are measured in pure metal, so only the pure gold or silver content counts toward them. For example, 100 grams at 18 karat is 75 grams of pure gold, which is below 87.48 grams.

Gold or silver?

Both thresholds are valid in the sources above, but they are not interchangeable in practice. Silver is much cheaper than gold, so the silver nisab is a far smaller amount of money than the gold nisab. A person with modest savings can be above the silver nisab and well below the gold one. Scholars and zakat organisations differ on which to apply to cash and other wealth. Ask the authority you follow, record which one you chose, and apply it the same way every year rather than switching to whichever is more convenient.

Working out your nisab in your own currency

1. Choose the metal and gram weight your authority uses, for example 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver.
2. Look up the current price per gram of pure metal in your own currency from a source you can date.
3. Multiply the two. This is your nisab on that date.
4. Compare it with your net zakatable wealth on your zakat date.

As an illustration only, if pure gold were priced at 100 units of currency per gram, the gold nisab would be 87.48 times 100, or 8,748 units. These are made-up round numbers, not a current price. If your wealth is at or above the figure on your zakat date and the year condition is met, the zakat due is 2.5% of the whole qualifying amount, not only the part above nisab.

Never reuse an old nisab figure from an article or a forum. Metal prices move, and the same currency amount can be above nisab one month and below it the next.

Next step

Enter your own price per gram, choose the metal, and let the zakat calculator do the arithmetic and show its assumptions. If you want the full process, including assets, debts and the lunar-year check, follow our step-by-step guide to calculating zakat. For jewellery specifically, see is gold haram for the related rulings on gold, and ask a qualified scholar about any case that is unclear, such as jewellery you wear, business stock or shared ownership.