The Stronger Position on the Issue of Zakah on Jewelry

Question:
Another letter on roughly the same topic—Your Eminence, the Shaykh—says: I am an Egyptian resident in one of the villages in the Kingdom with my husband, who works as a teacher. I have a quantity of gold jewelry, and since I bought it, I have known that there is no zakah on jewelry. I heard on your program from one of the distinguished scholars that there is no zakah on jewelry, and in another episode I heard that there is zakah on jewelry. So I brought the book *Talakhis al-Habir* and found on page one a hadith narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then she narrated another hadith from Asma bint Yazid, who said: I and my aunt entered upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had gold bracelets on our arms, so he said to us: Do We said: No. He said: Do I hope you will benefit me, may Allah reward you, because I am very anxious about this issue. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
Yes, the scholars differed regarding the zakah on jewelry: Some of the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—said that there is no zakah on it because it is used; thus it resembles camels that are used and cows that are used, so there is no zakah on them. They argued with the hadith: They said that this supports the principle that what is used is not subject to zakah. They also cited what was narrated from a group of the Companions, including Aisha and Asma and others, that they said: There is no zakah on jewelry.
Others among the scholars said that there is zakah on jewelry if it reaches the nisab. They argued with the hadith of Asma bint Yazid and what came in its meaning, and that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered her to pay zakah. Similarly, the hadith of Umm Salama, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her when she asked him about jewelry: And there is a hadith from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that also indicates this, along with the generality of the authentic hadith, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): the hadith.
This opinion is the most correct. This opinion is the most correct that there is zakah on it, based on the hadith of Asma and what came in its meaning, if it reaches the nisab. The nisab is twenty mithqals. Its amount in Saudi riyals is eleven and a half riyals, and in grams, it is eighty-two grams minus a little. This is the nisab.
So it is obligatory for her to pay zakah on what reaches this amount, whether from the gold itself, or from paper currency, or from silver riyals; it is all the same. She must pay a quarter of a tenth. If her gold that she owes zakah on is worth, for example, one thousand riyals, then the zakah on it is twenty-five, a quarter of a tenth. If it is worth twenty thousand, then she owes a quarter of a tenth, which is five hundred riyals; because a tenth of twenty thousand is two thousand, and a quarter of a tenth is five hundred riyals. If it is worth forty riyals, then she owes a quarter, a quarter of a tenth, which is one riyal; because a tenth of forty is four, and a quarter of a tenth is one, one riyal.
So the point is: that she owes a quarter of a tenth of the value of the jewelry, whether she pays it out in gold, or silver, or paper currency. This is the chosen opinion, and it is the most correct with evidence. As for the hadith: it is a weak hadith. If it were authentic, it would have been sufficient, but it is not authentic; it is a weak hadith according to the scholars, so it is not used as evidence. Yes.

The presenter : May Allah reward you with good.