Hawl: When Is Zakat Due? Finding Your Zakat Date

Most people know zakat is 2.5%. Fewer know exactly when it falls due, and that question decides a lot: which balance you use, whether a bonus that arrived last month counts, and whether a bad month in the middle of the year cancels your zakat. This guide explains the zakat year (hawl), how each madhab treats the awkward cases, and what to do if you have lost track of your date. If you already know roughly when your wealth reached the nisab, enter it in our zakat date calculator: it shows your next three zakat dates with their Hijri dates and can add them to your phone calendar as reminders.

What hawl means

Hawl (حول) literally means “a year that has turned”. In zakat it is the full lunar year that wealth must be owned at the nisab level before zakat is owed on it. The rule comes from the hadith “There is no zakat on wealth until a year passes over it” (Abu Dawud 1573, narrated from Ali; Ibn Majah 1792, narrated from Aisha). All the Sunni schools apply hawl to cash, savings, gold, silver, trade stock and grazing livestock.

Two things start the clock:

1. Ownership of the nisab. The value of your zakatable assets, after debts that are due now (in the schools that subtract them), is at or above the nisab. In the Hanafi madhab most people use the silver nisab, which today is about Rs 2,95,599; the gold nisab is about Rs 31,55,387. See the nisab page for which one your school uses.
2. A date. The day you first crossed that line. One lunar year later is your first zakat date.

Hawl is not counted per rupee. You do not track when each note entered your account. You have one zakat date, and on that date you look at what you own.

How to find your zakat date

1. Think back to when you first had savings above the nisab. For a salaried person it is often a few months after starting a job. For a woman it may be the day of her wedding, when jewellery and gifts became her own property. For a student it may be the day an inheritance or gift arrived.
2. Convert that day to its Islamic date. If it was 15 January 2025, that was about 15 Rajab 1446.
3. Keep that Islamic date for life, unless your wealth falls away completely and the year has to restart (see below).
4. Each year on that date, add up what you own, subtract what your madhab allows, and pay 2.5% if the total is still at or above the nisab.

Moon sighting in Pakistan is often a day later than the Umm al-Qura calendar, so treat the Gregorian dates below as approximate. A day either way does not matter much; consistency does.

Worked example 1: Bilal’s dates

Bilal, a software engineer in Lahore, first had savings above the nisab on 15 Rajab 1446, around 15 January 2025. His zakat dates are:

Zakat year	Islamic date	Approx. Gregorian date
Hawl starts	15 Rajab 1446	15 January 2025
1st zakat	15 Rajab 1447	4 January 2026
2nd zakat	15 Rajab 1448	24 December 2026
3rd zakat	15 Rajab 1449	13 December 2027

Notice the Gregorian date moving back by 10 or 11 days each year. A lunar year is about 354.37 days, while a solar year is 365.25 days. Over roughly 33 years your zakat date passes through every month of the Gregorian calendar. This is why a reminder set for “every 4 January” goes wrong after the first year, and why the hawl tracker calculates each date from the lunar year instead.

When wealth dips below the nisab during the year

This is where the schools genuinely differ, and it affects many families: a wedding, a hospital bill or a business loss can empty an account for a few months.

Hanafi: only the start and the end count

In the Hanafi madhab, if the nisab was complete at the beginning of the year and at the end of it, a drop in between does not matter. Al-Hidayah (al-Marghinani, Kitab al-Zakat) states that a decrease of the nisab during the year does not cancel zakat as long as it is complete at both ends. The one exception is if your zakatable wealth is completely lost during the year, down to nothing: then the hawl ends, and a new one starts when you next reach the nisab.

Money added during the year joins the same year in the Hanafi madhab: salary you saved last month, a bonus, or the instalments you have paid into a committee are all counted on your zakat date, without a separate year for each. See zakat on salary and zakat on committee (BC) for worked examples.

Shafi’i and Hanbali: the nisab must hold all year

In the Shafi’i and Hanbali schools the nisab must be present continuously for the whole year. If your wealth falls below the nisab even briefly, the year breaks, and a new hawl starts on the day you are back above it. Imam al-Nawawi sets this out in al-Majmu’ and Ibn Qudamah in al-Mughni. Ahl-e-Hadith readers should ask their own scholar which view they follow; we have not found a Pakistani Ahl-e-Hadith fatwa on it.

Maliki: continuous, with an exception for profit

The Maliki school also looks for the nisab across the year for money that comes from outside, such as salary, gifts or inheritance. But it has a well-known rule that profit follows its capital: if trading capital grows through profit, the profit takes the start date of the original capital, even if the capital on its own was below the nisab for part of the year (see Mukhtasar Khalil, Bab al-Zakat). For an ordinary salaried person the practical result is close to the Shafi’i view; for a trader it can be closer to the Hanafi result. A trader who follows the Maliki school should confirm the details with a scholar.

Worked example 2: Amna’s difficult year

For simplicity, assume the nisab is Rs 2,00,000 in this example (check the live figure above for real calculations). Amna’s zakat date is 1 Ramadan. On 1 Ramadan 1447 (around 18 February 2026) she had Rs 3,00,000. In Shawwal her mother’s operation brought her balance down to Rs 60,000. By Rabi’ al-Awwal 1448 she had saved back above Rs 2,00,000, and on 1 Ramadan 1448 (around 8 February 2027) she has Rs 3,50,000.

• Hanafi: she had the nisab at both ends, so zakat is due on 1 Ramadan 1448: 2.5% of Rs 3,50,000 = Rs 8,750.
• Shafi’i and Hanbali: her year broke in Shawwal. A new hawl began on the day in Rabi’ al-Awwal 1448 when she crossed Rs 2,00,000 again, so nothing is due on 1 Ramadan 1448. Her next zakat date is that day in Rabi’ al-Awwal 1449, unless she chooses to pay early.
• If her balance had reached zero in Shawwal, all schools, including the Hanafi, would restart her year from the day she next reached the nisab.

Money added during the year

Salaries, bonuses, gifts and committee (BC) payouts arrive throughout the year. Do they each need their own year?

• Hanafi: no. New money of the same kind joins your existing hawl and is counted on your zakat date, even if it arrived the day before. Cash, gold, silver and trade goods are all one kind for this purpose. This is called damm al-mal al-mustafad, joining acquired wealth to the nisab you already own.
• Shafi’i and Hanbali: money that comes from outside (salary, a gift, an inheritance) starts its own year from the day you receive it. Profit on trade goods and the young of grazing animals follow the year of the original. More on inheritances in zakat on inherited wealth.
• Maliki: similar. New, unrelated wealth (fa’ida) starts its own year; trading profit joins the year of its capital.

Tracking a separate year for every salary payment is impractical, so many Shafi’i and Hanbali scholars advise a simpler route: pay on everything you own on your one zakat date. For money that has not yet completed its own year, that payment counts as early zakat, which both schools allow (see below).

Worked example 3: Hamza’s bonus

Hamza’s zakat date is 10 Muharram. On 10 Muharram 1447 (around 5 July 2025) he paid zakat on Rs 4,00,000. That balance stayed through the year, and in Rabi’ al-Thani 1447, a few months later, his company paid him a Rs 2,00,000 bonus. On 10 Muharram 1448 (around 25 June 2026) he has Rs 6,00,000.

• Hanafi: the bonus joins his year. Zakat is 2.5% of Rs 6,00,000 = Rs 15,000.
• Shafi’i or Hanbali: Rs 10,000 is due now on the original Rs 4,00,000. The Rs 5,000 on the bonus is due when the bonus completes its own year in Rabi’ al-Thani 1448. He may simply pay all Rs 15,000 now, treating the Rs 5,000 as an advance.

Paying zakat early (ta’jil)

Paying before your zakat date is called ta’jil. The basis is the hadith in which al-Abbas asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he could pay his zakat before it was due, and he was allowed to (Abu Dawud 1624; Tirmidhi 678). The schools agree that you must already own the nisab when you pay early. Beyond that:

Madhab	Dip below nisab mid-year	Money added mid-year	Paying early
Hanafi	Ignored if nisab at start and end (unless wealth is wiped out)	Joins your existing year	Allowed, even for several years ahead
Shafi’i	Year breaks and restarts	Own year (trade profit follows capital)	Allowed for one year ahead
Hanbali	Year breaks and restarts	Own year (trade profit follows capital)	Allowed, up to two years ahead
Maliki	Generally breaks; profit follows its capital	Own year for new money; profit joins capital	Only a short time before the due date, commonly given as about a month

If you pay early and then, on your zakat date, it turns out you did not owe zakat (for example because your wealth was lost), what you gave still counts as sadaqah, with its reward. If you owe more than you paid early, pay the difference on the date. Compare the schools side by side on the madhab comparison page.

Does zakat have to be paid in Ramadan?

No. Nothing in the Quran or hadith ties zakat on wealth to Ramadan. It is due on your own zakat date, whatever month that falls in. Many people like to give in Ramadan because good deeds are multiplied, and that is fine, but there are two traps:

• Delaying is not allowed. If your date is in Rajab, you should not hold the money until Ramadan. Most scholars say zakat should be paid promptly once it is due.
• Moving earlier is fine. If you want to give in Ramadan every year and your date falls after Ramadan, you can pay in Ramadan as an early payment in the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali schools, then settle any difference on your true date. Under the Maliki rule this works only if Ramadan falls shortly before your date.

In Pakistan, banks deduct zakat from savings accounts on 1 Ramadan under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance. That is the government’s collection date, not your hawl. Count the deduction as part of the zakat you owe and subtract it on your own date. See bank zakat deduction in Pakistan for how this works.

Lunar or solar year: 2.5% or 2.577%?

The hawl is a lunar year. Some people, especially business owners whose accounts close on 30 June or 31 December, prefer to calculate zakat on their Gregorian year-end. A solar year is about 11 days longer, so over time they would pay slightly less often than the lunar calendar requires. To make up for this, many contemporary scholars and Islamic finance bodies advise paying 2.577% on a solar year instead of 2.5%. The figure comes from 2.5% × 365.25 ÷ 354.37.

Example: a shop owner has Rs 20,00,000 of zakatable stock and cash on 30 June. On a lunar date the zakat would be Rs 50,000. If he uses 30 June every year, he pays 2.577%, which is Rs 51,540. Our calculators use 2.5% on a lunar year; if you use a solar date, apply 2.577% yourself.

If you forget your zakat date

This is very common, especially for people who started earning years ago. Scholars generally advise the following:

1. Make your best honest estimate. Think of events: your first job, your wedding, a property sale, the first time you opened a savings account. Pick the Islamic date that most likely matches.
2. When unsure, lean earlier. Choosing a slightly earlier date means you are less likely to underpay.
3. If you cannot estimate at all, pick an Islamic date you will remember, such as 1 Ramadan or 1 Muharram, and keep to it every year from now on.
4. Write it down and set reminders. The zakat date calculator saves your start date in your browser and creates a calendar file with your next five dates.

If forgetting the date also means you missed paying for some years, those years are still owed. Our guide on paying missed zakat for past years explains how to estimate each year and catch up.

Where there is no hawl, or a different year

• Crops (ushr): no year is needed. Ushr is due at harvest, based on “give its due on the day of its harvest” (Surah al-An’am 6:141). A farmer who harvests wheat twice a year pays ushr on each harvest. See ushr on crops.
• Grazing livestock: hawl does apply; animals must be owned for a full lunar year.
• Khums (Fiqh-e-Jafaria): khums on annual surplus has its own “khums year”, counted from when you first started earning. You fix a yearly date and pay one fifth of what is left unspent on that date. Many people use a solar date for this; the reminder in our khums calculator repeats on the same Gregorian date each year. In Ja’fari fiqh zakat itself applies only to specific items, with its own year rules.

Common mistakes

• Using the same Gregorian date every year. After ten years you would be about 110 days late.
• Thinking each deposit needs a year when you follow the Hanafi madhab. It joins your one date.
• Assuming a bad month cancels zakat in the Hanafi madhab. It does not, unless your wealth reached zero.
• Waiting for Ramadan when your date has already passed.
• Treating the bank’s 1 Ramadan deduction as your full zakat. It covers one account only.

What to do now

1. Work out, or estimate, the Islamic date your wealth first reached the nisab.
2. Enter it in the zakat date calculator and save the calendar reminders.
3. Decide which madhab’s rules you follow for dips and new money, and stay consistent.
4. On your date, add up everything and calculate the amount. If some years were missed, start a catch-up plan.

Where your situation is unusual, such as a business with irregular income or wealth that was lost and regained several times, please ask a scholar you trust.

Frequently asked questions