What If I Can’t Afford to Pay the Zakat on My Gold?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: What happens if women are unable to pay for zakaat on their gold (if they cannot afford it/do not have the money)? What is the ruling on this? Furthermore, what is the punishment for someone who has not paid their zakaat by the end of the Islamic year?

Answer: assalamu `alaykum

One is obligated to pay Zakat when the zakatable-minimum (nisab) is possessed and a year passes over it.

The zakatable-minimum is equivalent to the value of 87 grams of gold. If ones zakatable-wealth is equal to or more than this then 2.5 percent of it must be given in Zakat.

You may give the Zakat in cash or kind to anyone entitled to it. If a woman does not possess anything she may ask her husband or father to give it on her behalf with her permission. This would be akin to the husband or father gifting her the money and her using it thereafter to pay her Zakat.

If this is not possible then the woman can sell some of her jewlery or even give the jewlery itself in Zakat.

For details regarding calculating Zakat please see the following link:

Zakat: How to Calculate & Whom to Give

Salman

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani