What is the amount of zakah on jewelry, and is it paid in gold or in its value?

The questioner : A questioner says: My wife weighed the jewelry I own, and it came to about forty-nine and a half Saudi riyals, which is about four and a half dinars. What is the amount of its zakah? And is it paid in gold or in riyals?

The Shaykh : The amount of zakah on gold, silver, and trade goods is all one-quarter of a tenth, and the method is to divide the total by forty. The result of the division is the zakah. So regarding the gold the questioner mentioned, we say: look at its value, and whatever amount it reaches, divide it by forty, and the result of the division is the amount of zakah. Her question is whether it must be paid out of the gold or out of the value. We hold that there is no harm in paying it out of the value, and it is not obligatory to pay it out of the gold. This is because the interest of the recipients of zakah lies in receiving it in value. If a poor person were given a gold bracelet or given the value of that bracelet, the value of the bracelet would be more desirable to him and more beneficial to him.