The Ruling on the Zakah of Adornments
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We testify to Allah regarding our love for you, O Shaykh Muhammad! We are among your sons from the people of the Riyadh region, and we came to visit you—may Allah preserve you—and the question is about the zakah of gold: what is the correct statement regarding it?
Do you mean in jewelry, or in gold in general?The questioner: Regarding gold.
The Shaykh: In gold in general, there is no doubt that it is subject to zakah by the consensus of the Muslims, such as dinars, raw gold, and pieces of gold. There is no dispute regarding these; they are subject to zakah in all cases, whether a person intends them for trade or for keeping. The disagreement is over permissible jewelry, and the scholars differed on this with several opinions. The strongest of them is that zakah is obligatory in all cases if it reaches the nisab. If a woman has a bracelet, rings, and earrings that reach the nisab, which is: eighty-five grams, then it is obligatory for her to pay its zakah every year. Its value is assessed by people of expertise and knowledge according to the value of gold, and she pays one-quarter of one-tenth, whether this is more than what she paid for it or less.
For example: If she bought this gold jewelry for ten thousand, and at the completion of the lunar year it is worth five thousand, then the obligatory amount is the zakah of five thousand only. And if she bought it for five thousand and at the completion of the lunar year it is worth ten thousand, then the obligatory amount is the zakah of ten thousand.
Do you mean in jewelry, or in gold in general?The questioner: Regarding gold.
The Shaykh: In gold in general, there is no doubt that it is subject to zakah by the consensus of the Muslims, such as dinars, raw gold, and pieces of gold. There is no dispute regarding these; they are subject to zakah in all cases, whether a person intends them for trade or for keeping. The disagreement is over permissible jewelry, and the scholars differed on this with several opinions. The strongest of them is that zakah is obligatory in all cases if it reaches the nisab. If a woman has a bracelet, rings, and earrings that reach the nisab, which is: eighty-five grams, then it is obligatory for her to pay its zakah every year. Its value is assessed by people of expertise and knowledge according to the value of gold, and she pays one-quarter of one-tenth, whether this is more than what she paid for it or less.
For example: If she bought this gold jewelry for ten thousand, and at the completion of the lunar year it is worth five thousand, then the obligatory amount is the zakah of five thousand only. And if she bought it for five thousand and at the completion of the lunar year it is worth ten thousand, then the obligatory amount is the zakah of ten thousand.