Zakat: Categories, Nisab, and Recipients

zakah is the third pillar of Islam — an obligatory annual levy on specific categories of wealth, paid to designated categories of recipients. It is simultaneously an act of worship and a mechanism of social welfare. The Quran pairs zakah with prayer in over twenty verses, underscoring their equal importance: "Establish the prayer and give the zakah" (2:43). Refusing to pay zakah while believing it obligatory is a major sin; denying its obligation is disbelief.

zakah is obligatory on five categories of wealth when the nisab (minimum threshold) and haul (one lunar year of ownership) conditions are met.

Gold and silver: zakah is due at 2.5% when gold reaches 85 grams or silver reaches 595 grams. Modern scholars extend this to cash and financial instruments valued at the silver nisab, though some prefer the gold standard. The two thresholds have diverged significantly in value in the modern era, and the choice affects who owes zakah.

Agricultural produce: zakah is due at harvest on grains, fruits, and produce that can be dried and stored. The rate is 10% for rain-watered crops and 5% for irrigated crops, based on the hadith of the Prophet (al-Bukhari). There is no haul requirement — zakah is due at harvest.

Livestock: Camels, cattle, and sheep/goats have detailed nisab levels established in the Prophet's authentic letters to his governors, preserved in the collections of Abu Dawud and others. For example, no zakah is owed on fewer than five camels; from five to nine camels, one sheep is due.

Trade goods (urud al-tijarah): Goods held for trade are valued at the end of the haul at their market price, and zakah of 2.5% is due if they reach the nisab. This applies to business inventory, rental properties held for profit, and similar commercial assets.

Mines and buried treasure (rikaz): A fifth (20%) is due on buried pre-Islamic treasure found in the ground. For minerals extracted from the earth, the majority position is 2.5% after costs.

The eight categories of zakah recipients are specified in the Quran: "Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect it and for bringing hearts together and for freeing captives and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the traveler — an obligation imposed by Allah" (9:60). These are: the poor (fuqara'), the needy (masakin), zakah administrators, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, those in bondage, debtors, in the way of Allah (fi sabilillah), and stranded travelers.

Sayyid Sabiq addresses contemporary questions such as whether zakah is due on bank savings, whether the nisab should be calculated on gold or silver, and how to calculate zakah on modern business structures. His evidence-based approach makes the chapter a practical guide for Muslims navigating zakah in modern financial life.