How to Calculate Zakat on Gold (With Examples)

Zakat on gold is one of the most common Zakat questions, because gold is how many Muslim families store their savings — especially as jewellery. The rule itself is short: if the gold you own reaches the nisab of 85 grams and you have held it for one lunar year, you owe 2.5% of its current market value. The practical questions — What counts? How do I value 21-karat jewellery? Do I pay on jewellery I actually wear? — are what this guide answers.

The nisab for gold: 85 grams

Nisab is the minimum wealth at which Zakat becomes due. For gold, the nisab is 20 mithqal, which scholars have measured as approximately 85 grams of pure gold. If all the gold you own adds up to less than 85 grams — and you have no other savings — you owe no Zakat on it.

Two important details:

• The nisab applies to your total zakatable wealth, not gold alone. If you own 50 grams of gold plus cash savings, you combine their values; if the total exceeds the nisab, you pay Zakat on all of it.
• Many scholars advise using the lower silver nisab (595 grams of silver) when you hold a mix of assets, because it is more generous to the poor. Our Zakat calculator supports both thresholds with live market prices.

How to value your gold

Zakat is paid on the current market value on your Zakat due date — not the price you bought it for.

• Find today's gold price per gram (any live gold price site, or your local jeweller's buy-back rate)
• Adjust for purity: 24k is pure; 22k is 91.7% gold; 21k is 87.5%; 18k is 75%. A 100-gram 18k bracelet contains 75 grams of pure gold
• Multiply the pure-gold grams by the price per gram, then take 2.5% of that value

Worked example

Suppose you own: a 22k necklace weighing 40 grams, 21k bangles weighing 60 grams, and a 10-gram 24k coin.

• Necklace: 40 g × 0.917 = 36.7 g pure gold
• Bangles: 60 g × 0.875 = 52.5 g pure gold
• Coin: 10 g × 1.0 = 10 g pure gold
• Total: 99.2 g pure gold — above the 85 g nisab, so Zakat is due

If gold trades at $75 per gram, the value is 99.2 × $75 = $7,440, and the Zakat owed is $7,440 × 2.5% = $186.

Do I pay Zakat on jewellery I wear?

This is the famous point of difference among the schools of law:

• The Hanafi school holds that all gold and silver is zakatable, including jewellery in regular personal use. This is the safer, more cautious position
• The Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools exempt jewellery that is genuinely for personal adornment and within customary amounts, while still requiring Zakat on gold kept as savings or investment

If you follow the Hanafi school, include everything. If you follow one of the other schools, jewellery you actually wear is exempt, but the gold sitting in a drawer as a store of value is not. When in doubt, paying is the safer choice — the poor benefit and your obligation is certainly discharged.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using the purchase price instead of today's price — gold has risen sharply over the years, and Zakat follows the current value
• Forgetting purity — 21k and 18k jewellery is not 100% gold, so calculate the pure-gold weight first
• Ignoring the lunar year — the hawl is 354 days, not 365; anchor your Zakat date to a Hijri date (many choose Ramadan) using our Islamic calendar
• Treating the nisab per item — it applies to your combined zakatable wealth, not each piece separately

Calculate it in minutes, free

Our Zakat calculator pulls live gold and silver prices, lets you enter jewellery by karat and weight, adds your cash, investments and business assets, and applies whichever nisab you choose — free, no ads, no sign-up. For the broader rules covering cash, savings and investments, see our full guide on how to calculate Zakat.