Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam: a yearly payment of 2.5% on savings and wealth above a minimum amount, given to people in need. Working it out is simpler than it looks. Here is the method most people in Pakistan follow.
Step 1: Check the date
Zakat is due once a full Islamic (lunar) year has passed since your wealth first reached the nisab. Many people pick a fixed date to make it easy, often in Ramadan, and calculate on that day every year.
Step 2: Add up what you own
Include gold and silver (including jewellery, in the Hanafi school), cash at home, money in bank accounts and savings schemes, business stock at its sale value, money that others owe you and expect to repay, and investments such as shares and prize bonds.
Don’t include your home, car, furniture, clothes or other things for personal use.
Step 3: Subtract what you owe now
Deduct debts and bills that are due now, such as a loan instalment or unpaid rent. Long-term loans are usually counted only for the amount due in the coming year; ask a scholar if yours is large.
Step 4: Compare with the nisab
The nisab is the value of 52.5 tola (612.36 g) of silver or 7.5 tola (87.48 g) of gold. Silver is far cheaper, so the silver nisab is much lower. At a silver price of Rs 10,500 per tola (February 2026), the silver nisab was about Rs 551,250. Many scholars in Pakistan recommend using the silver nisab, since more zakat then reaches the poor.
Step 5: Multiply by 2.5%
If your total is at or above the nisab, divide it by 40 (the same as 2.5%). That is your zakat.
A worked example
Say you have 5 tola of 22-karat gold, Rs 250,000 in the bank and no debts. With 24-karat gold at Rs 500,000 per tola, 22-karat is worth about Rs 458,333 per tola, so the gold is worth Rs 2,291,667. Your total is Rs 2,541,667, well above the nisab, and your zakat is Rs 63,542.
Use our zakat calculator to do this with today’s prices. For business partnerships, property held for sale or unusual cases, ask a qualified scholar.