Chapter on Zakāt of Coined Gold and Silver

The nisab for silver is two hundred dirhams, and for gold it is twenty mithqāls according to the Makkan standard. On each of them the due is one-quarter of one-tenth (2.5 %).

No zakāt is owed on debased alloy until the quantity of pure gold or silver contained in it reaches the nisab. If a vessel is made of both metals and it is not known which of the two predominates, he must pay zakāt on whichever is the greater—gold or silver—or else separate and weigh them.

According to the more authoritative view, items whose use is forbidden are liable to zakāt, whereas items whose use is permitted are not. Forbidden items include vessels, bracelets, and anklets intended for a man to wear. If someone fashions a bracelet unintentionally, or with the intention of hiring it out to a person who may lawfully use it, no zakāt is due, and the same applies if the jewellery has broken and he merely intends to repair it.

It is unlawful for a man to wear gold adornment, except for a nasal splint, a fingertip cover, or a tooth—not a finger ring—and, on the sound opinion, inlaying a ring with gold is likewise prohibited. He may wear a silver ring and may decorate weapons of war—such as a sword, spear, or military belt—with silver, but not items he does not wear, like saddles and bridles, according to the preferred view.

A woman may not ornament weapons of war, yet she is allowed to wear every kind of gold and silver jewellery and, on the stronger opinion, garments woven with them. The sounder view nonetheless forbids excessive extravagance, such as an anklet weighing two hundred dinars, and likewise excessive ornamentation of weapons.

It is permissible to embellish a Qur’an with silver, and—when the copy belongs to a woman—even with gold.

Zakāt on coined money requires the completion of a full lunar year, and no zakāt is due on other gemstones, such as pearls.