Zakat: the yearly due

First, the word. Zakat means purification and growth.

Muslims understand it as cleansing their wealth. A share of that wealth was never really theirs. It was the right of those in need.

It is mentioned alongside prayer dozens of times in the Qur'an.

Voluntary charity has its own name, sadaqah. It is encouraged on top of zakat, in any amount and at any time.

Paying zakat purifies the wealth that is kept.

So whose wealth carries that right? Zakat is due from an adult Muslim of sound mind whose zakatable wealth, after debts due, is at or above the nisab, a minimum threshold.

The wealth is measured at the start and end of a lunar year (the hawl). In the Hanafi school, dipping below the nisab during the year does not cancel zakat unless the wealth is lost entirely. The other schools require it to stay above the nisab throughout.

Where does the threshold come from? Classical weights: 20 mithqal of gold or 200 dirhams of silver. Modern scholars convert these to roughly 85 to 87.5 grams of gold or 595 to 612 grams of silver.

Many Hanafi scholars advise using the silver value, which is lower, so that more zakat reaches the poor. Local ulama bodies publish the current rand amount each year.

Below the threshold, nothing is due.

Once wealth is at or above the nisab, the rate is small and fixed: 2.5%, one fortieth.

It is due on cash and bank balances, gold and silver (including jewellery, in the Hanafi school), shares and goods held for sale. The value is taken on the anniversary of the year.

Some things are left out. Personal things in daily use are exempt: your home, car, furniture, clothes and the tools of your trade. Livestock and crops have their own rules.

One fortieth of what you hold, once a year.

Where does the money go? The Qur'an itself answers, with eight categories of recipient.

The poor. The needy. Those employed to collect and distribute it. Those whose hearts are being reconciled. Freeing people from bondage. Those in debt. The cause of God. And travellers left stranded.

The Hanafi school adds limits. Zakat may not be given to one's own parents or children, to wealthy people, or to the Prophet's family line. And it must be handed over to a recipient, not spent on buildings.

The Qur'an itself says where it goes.