Pay your zakat - and the good you do for the sake of Allah, you will find with Him.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and is an obligation (fard) that Muslims must perform. It is a payment of 2.5% of a person's wealth (with some exceptions) made every lunar year. One of the primary goals of Zakat is to help an individual control their ego and practice placing divine order above personal desires, while also protecting wealthy individuals from impure wealth and sin.

For a person to pay Zakat, all of the following conditions must be met:

• The individual must be a Muslim, have reached puberty, be male or hur.
• Full ownership of wealth means the person has constructive and legal ownership and can dispose of it at will, including selling it.
• The individual must own wealth exceeding the Nisab for one full lunar year (Hawl).
• The wealth must be productive in nature (e.g., gold, silver, livestock, or business assets that can generate profit).
• This wealth must be free from debt.

As stated in the Qur'an, zakat may be given to eight eligible categories:

• The poor (fuqarā'): those who have some means beyond basic needs but remain below the nisab threshold.
• The needy (masākīn): those who have virtually no wealth and live in extreme poverty.
• Zakat administrators (ʿāmilūn): authorized personnel appointed by the competent authority to collect and distribute zakat.
• Those whose hearts are to be reconciled: people expected to embrace Islam or become firm in it (today, some scholars consider giving zakat to this category suspended).
• For emancipation (riqāb): for freeing slaves (not applicable in practice today as slavery has been abolished).
• Debtors (ghārimūn): to assist those in genuine hardship due to debt.
• In the cause of Allah (fī sabīlillāh): needy people engaged in beneficial service in Allah's path (e.g., religious service, students of knowledge, educational/da'wah-related efforts).
• Wayfarers (ibn al-sabīl): travelers who fall into difficulty while on a journey.

Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth that, once reached, makes Zakat obligatory for the owner.

• Different assets have different Nisabs. For example, for cash, the Nisab is the value of 85 grams of gold.

Zakat should be given as soon as possible after it becomes mandatory, as one must fulfill the obligation before death.

• For Zakat to be mandatory, the wealth must stay at or above the Nisab for one year. According to the Hanafi school, it is sufficient if the Nisab is met at the beginning and the end of the year.

No. Delaying Zakat is a sin because this wealth belongs to the needy, not the owner. Once the due date arrives, it must be paid in full without delay, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Zakat cannot be given to the Bani Hashim (descendants of the Prophet SAW), one's parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, spouse, non-Muslims, or for the construction of mosques and madrasas.

Zakat is generally due on growth-capable assets (assets that generate income or can increase in value), such as gold and silver, trade inventory/merchandise, and livestock, and similar beneficial assets that can produce profit. You can learn more about this during the calculation process in the Zakotim calculator.

• Zakatable assets must be above the nisab threshold.
• Once the nisab is reached and the assets remain in ownership for one full lunar (Hijri) year (hawl), zakat becomes obligatory.
• The assets must be fully owned, under the owner's control, and free from debt encumbrance.