Zakat on Gold and Silver.

The Shaykh : Zakat is generally obligatory on all growing wealth. "Growing" means increasing. This is the general rule. Sometimes, however, it is obligatory even on wealth that does not grow, as will become clear. It is obligatory on gold and silver, whether in the form of currency, such as riyals and pounds, or in bullion, meaning pieces of gold or pieces of silver, or in jewelry or otherwise. There is no exception. There is no distinction between jewelry and other forms in the Book, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the scholarly consensus, nor in valid analogical reasoning. This is the stronger position; I mean that the position holding that zakat is obligatory on jewelry is the stronger position supported by the evidence. So, zakat is obligatory on gold and silver in all cases, provided that it reaches the nisab. The nisab for gold is twenty mithqals, and for silver, one hundred and forty mithqals. Let me repeat. What is the nisab for gold? Twenty mithqals. What is the nisab for silver? One hundred and forty mithqals. How much is this in current standards? They say that twenty mithqals equals eighty-five grams, eighty-five grams. And that one hundred and forty mithqals equals five hundred and ninety-five grams. Paper money is neither gold nor silver, but its value is assessed in terms of silver. So, if a person has paper money whose value equals how much? Five hundred and ninety-five grams of silver, then zakat is due on it. Our scholars assessed this in Saudi silver riyals as fifty-six riyals. So, ask a money changer, for example, what is the value of one hundred notes in Saudi silver dirhams? And you will know what is due. Is gold added to silver to complete the nisab, or does each have a separate nisab? The latter is the stronger position. That is, if a person has half the nisab of gold and half the nisab of silver, no zakat is due on him, even though if he combined one with the other, it would complete a nisab. But the correct view is that gold is not added to silver to complete the nisab. Just as barley is not added to wheat to complete the nisab. That is, if a person has half the nisab of wheat and half the nisab of barley, no zakat is due on him, because barley is not added to wheat. Likewise, gold is not added to silver. This is one point. Gold and silver: are they one or two? Two. Good.