The year
When your zakat al-maal year starts
A lunar year from the day your wealth first reached the nisab.
Your zakat al-maal year
It starts on the day your wealth first reaches the nisab, and ends a lunar year later (Sunan Ibn Majah 1792). A lunar year is 354 or 355 days, about eleven days shorter than the calendar year.
Check this year’s nisab threshold before you work out what you owe. DonateOpenly ranks UK Muslim charities from their public records, out of 10.
Choosing and keeping a zakat day
Pick a Hijri date
Many use a day in Ramadan and keep it every year.
Forgot when it began?
Choose a date and keep to it from now on.
Same day, every year
Count everything you hold that day, together.
Money that arrives during the year
| School | New money of the same kind |
|---|---|
| Hanafi | Joins the wealth already at the nisab, counted on the zakat day |
| Shafi‘i and Hanbali | Each new sum has its own year, except growth on what you held |
All start from the lunar year (Sunan Ibn Majah 1792).