Zakat check on mixed wealth and a poor cousin
On the first of Ramadan a Rangers sepoy asks the unit religious teacher to check his zakat. On that date he holds: Rs 450,000 in a savings account; gold jewellery weighing 60 g, worn regularly by his wife; silver utensils weighing 200 g; a loan of Rs 100,000 he gave to a cousin, who has promised to repay next month; and a bank instalment of Rs 150,000 falling due within this lunar year. Every item has been in his possession for more than one full lunar year. Today's local prices are Rs 30,000 per gram of gold and Rs 250 per gram of silver. The silver nisab is 612.36 g and the gold nisab is 87.48 g; the unit's practice has always been to test mixed wealth against the silver nisab. The sepoy also supports his parents and two school-going children, and he asks whether he may give his zakat to his unemployed cousin, who has no income and no savings.
1. Decide which items enter the zakat base and which do not, and state the nisab you are applying with its arithmetic.
Read the worked answer
Entering the base: cash Rs 450,000; gold 60 g × Rs 30,000 = Rs 1,800,000 (gold and silver are zakatable in any form, including jewellery that is worn, in the Hanafi position followed in Pakistan); silver 200 g × Rs 250 = Rs 50,000; the loan of Rs 100,000, because it is a strong debt owed by a solvent debtor and is treated as part of his wealth. Gross = Rs 2,400,000.
Deducted: the bank instalment of Rs 150,000, being a debt due within the year. Net zakatable wealth = Rs 2,250,000.
Nisab applied: silver nisab = 612.36 g × Rs 250 = Rs 153,090. For comparison, gold nisab = 87.48 g × Rs 30,000 = Rs 2,624,400.
Because the unit's practice is to value mixed, largely monetary wealth against the silver nisab, the threshold is Rs 153,090, and Rs 2,250,000 is far above it. Hawl is complete on every item. Zakat is due. Note for the record that a minority practice tests such wealth against the gold nisab; it should be mentioned to him, then the unit's stated practice applied consistently.
2. Compute the zakat due, and explain what would change if the gold nisab were used instead.
Read the worked answer
Computation: 2.5% × Rs 2,250,000 = Rs 56,250.
If the gold nisab were applied: Rs 2,624,400, and his net wealth of Rs 2,250,000 falls below it - so on that basis no zakat would be due at all.
The two answers differ completely, so the choice of nisab is the whole case, and the teacher must not gloss over it. He should explain that the silver nisab is the lower threshold and is the one normally applied to cash-based wealth precisely because it brings more wealth into zakat and serves the poor; that the Prophet's nisab for silver was 200 dirhams and for gold 20 dinars; and that paying on the silver basis discharges an obligation he may well owe, while not paying is only safe if the gold basis is certainly correct.
Practical advice: make the intention (niyyah) when setting the amount aside, pay it promptly rather than delaying to the next Ramadan, and keep a simple written record of the calculation so that next year's check starts from known figures rather than memory.
3. May he pay the zakat to his unemployed cousin? State the conditions the teacher should check before any money is handed over.
Read the worked answer
In principle yes, and it carries a double reward - zakat is charity and maintaining family ties is rewardable - but four conditions must be checked.
- Genuine need: the cousin's wealth, after basic needs, must be below the nisab. "Unemployed" is not itself a qualification, and the teacher should ask about savings, gold, land and any vehicle rather than accepting the word.
- Not a dependant: zakat may not go to someone the sepoy is obliged to maintain - his parents, his children, or his wife. A cousin is outside that circle, so this one is not a bar.
- Not from the family of the Prophet: the majority position excludes Banu Hashim; the teacher should establish this if there is any doubt.
- Transfer of ownership: the money must actually pass to the cousin for him to own, not be spent on his behalf without his consent.
One warning: the sepoy should not simply cancel the Rs 100,000 loan and call it zakat without advice - the loan is already counted in his zakatable wealth, and cancelling it is not the same act as handing over zakat. Pay in cash, and settle the loan separately.