Pillar 3 / 5

Zakāt

The obligatory alms

الزَّكَاة

Summary

To give 2.5% of one's annual savings to those entitled to receive it.

Standard rate: 2.5% of savings held for one lunar year.
Obligatory when wealth reaches the threshold (niṣāb).
Distributed to 8 categories of recipients defined in the Qur'an.
Purifies wealth and strengthens community solidarity.

« Take from their wealth a charity by which you purify and bless them. »
— Sourate At-Tawba 9:103

The niṣāb and its calculation

The niṣāb is 85 g of gold or 595 g of silver. When a Muslim owns this minimum for a full lunar year (ḥawl), 2.5% of the total (savings, gold, silver, commercial shares) is due.

The 8 categories of recipients

Allah explicitly defined the beneficiaries in Sūrat At-Tawba (9:60):

1.The poor (al-fuqarā')
2.The needy (al-masākīn)
3.Zakāt collectors
4.Those whose hearts are to be reconciled
5.Freeing slaves
6.The indebted (al-ghārimūn)
7.In the cause of Allah (fī sabīli-llāh)
8.The stranded traveller (ibn as-sabīl)

Wealth subject to zakāt

Zakāt is not limited to cash. It also covers:

1.Gold and silver beyond the niṣāb
2.Commercial goods (ʿurūḍ at-tijāra)
3.Livestock (camels, cattle, sheep) according to specific scales
4.Agricultural produce (5% with artificial irrigation, 10% with natural)
5.Buried treasures (rikāz) at 20%

Zakāt al-Fiṭr

Distinct from the annual zakāt, zakāt al-Fiṭr is given at the end of Ramadan before the Eid prayer, roughly 2.5 kg of staple food per household member.

Prophetic ḥadīths

« No owner of gold or silver who does not pay its due (zakāt) but plates of fire will be prepared for him on the Day of Resurrection. »
— Muslim

« Fortify your wealth with zakāt, treat your sick with charity. »
— Ṭabarānī, ḥadīth ḥasan

Views of the legal schools

Overview of the main positions (madhāhib) on certain aspects.

Ḥanafī

Permits paying monetary value instead of food for zakāt al-Fiṭr.

Mālikī / Shāfiʿī / Ḥanbalī

Zakāt al-Fiṭr is given in kind (staple food of the region).