Zakat Calculator

Zakat is the obligatory annual charity every eligible Muslim pays on their savings — 2.5% of qualifying wealth that has been held for one full lunar year. It is the third pillar of Islam, and it is fard (compulsory), not optional.

The word zakat means "to purify" and "to grow". Paying it purifies the rest of your wealth and, in Allah's promise, causes it to grow in barakah. It sits right beside Salah in the Qur'an, where the two are paired again and again.

People often mix up two things, so let's be clear. Zakat is obligatory and has fixed rules: a threshold (nisab), a rate (2.5%), and a year-long holding period. Sadaqah is voluntary — any amount, any time, given purely for reward. Every zakat is a form of charity, but not every charity is zakat.

Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth you must own before zakat becomes due. If your net zakatable wealth is at or above nisab on your zakat date, you pay 2.5%. Below it, you owe nothing.

There are two benchmarks for nisab, set by the Prophet ﷺ‎ in gold and silver:

Which one applies to you? Most Indian scholars and the Hanafi practice (which the majority of Indian Muslims follow) use the silver nisab. The reason is simple: silver's value is lower, so the threshold is lower. More people qualify to pay, and more poor and needy benefit — which is the whole point of zakat.

In practice you take today's market rate of silver, multiply by 612.36 grams, and that rupee figure is your nisab. If your total savings cross it, zakat is due. The calculator above applies the silver nisab by default so you don't have to do this maths by hand.

Zakat is due on wealth that grows or can be traded — cash, gold, silver, business goods and investments. It is not due on things you use in daily life, like your home or car.

Wealth that counts (zakatable):

• Cash — money in hand plus every bank account, savings and fixed deposits.
• Gold and silver — coins, bars, and in the Hanafi view also your jewellery (zewar), whether worn or stored. This is where sona chandi zakat matters most for Indian families.
• Business stock and inventory — goods you hold to sell, valued at their current price.
• Receivables — money you lent out and genuinely expect to get back.
• Shares and investments held for trading.

Then subtract your immediate liabilities — debts due now, this month's bills, unpaid rent, EMIs falling due. What remains is your net zakatable wealth.

What is NOT counted: the house you live in, your personal car, your clothes, the tools of your trade, and everyday household items. These are for use, not for growth, so no zakat on them.

Zakat is 2.5% of your net wealth, paid once your money has completed one full lunar year in your possession — a period called the hawl.

Why 2.5%? Because the Prophet ﷺ‎ fixed the rate on cash and trade goods at one-fortieth (1/40th) of the total, which works out to exactly 2.5 percent. So the question "zakat kitni hoti hai" has one clean answer: dhai (2.5) percent. That is the 2.5 percent figure the calculator uses.

Why a lunar year and not the calendar year? Because the Islamic year follows the moon and is about 11 days shorter. Using the hawl keeps zakat tied to the Hijri calendar, so a Ramadan-to-Ramadan cycle lines up correctly year after year.

To work out zakat kaise nikale: pick a fixed Hijri date each year (your zakat date). On that date, add up all zakatable wealth, subtract immediate debts, check it against nisab, and if you're at or above it, pay 2.5% of the net figure.

Many Indians choose to pay in Ramadan for the multiplied reward of giving in that blessed month. That's a fine habit — but remember the real trigger is your wealth completing a hawl, not the arrival of Ramadan itself. If your hawl finishes in another month, zakat is due then.

Zakat can only go to eight categories of people, named directly by Allah in the Qur'an (Surah at-Tawbah 9:60). You cannot give it to just anyone.

• Al-Fuqara — the poor, who have little.
• Al-Masakin — the needy, in even harder difficulty.
• Zakat collectors — those appointed to gather and distribute it.
• Those whose hearts are to be reconciled — new or inclining Muslims.
• Freeing captives — liberating those in bondage.
• Al-Gharimin — people burdened by debt they cannot repay.
• Fi Sabilillah — in the cause of Allah.
• Ibn as-Sabil — the stranded traveller who has run out of means.

There are also clear limits. You cannot give your zakat to your own parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, or your spouse — you are already responsible for them. In practice, the poor and needy who receive zakat are Muslims; non-Muslims are usually helped through sadaqah rather than zakat.

These are two different charities. Zakat (the one this page and calculator cover) is 2.5% of your yearly wealth. Zakat al-Fitr is a small fixed amount paid per person before Eid al-Fitr.

Zakat al-Fitr (also called Fitrana or Sadaqat al-Fitr) is due on nearly every Muslim — the head of a household pays it for himself and each dependent, including children. It is a fixed measure of staple food (or its cash value), not a percentage, and it is paid in the last days of Ramadan, before the Eid prayer.

You can plan both around the same month — see our Ramadan calendar to track the roza days and Eid, and the home page for today's chand ki tarikh.