Shafi’i Zakat Calculator

This calculator follows the Shafi’i madhab, followed in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya and Sri Lanka, and by many in Egypt, where the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Maliki schools are all followed.

• ✓ Sources listed for each madhab
• ✓ Your data stays on your device
• ✓ Live gold & silver rates

Shafi’i zakat rules used in this calculator

• Jewellery: no zakat on permissible jewellery that is worn. If it goes beyond the customary amount (200 mithqal: about 850 g at 4.25 g per mithqal; the calculator uses the 860 g figure we read in MUIS guidance, pending verification) it becomes zakatable, as do pieces kept for investment (MUIS Office of the Mufti, citing Imam al-Nawawi’s al-Majmu’).
• Debts: in the relied-upon position, debts do not prevent or reduce zakat (SeekersGuidance, “Which debts affect zakat”).
• Gold and silver: treated as two separate classes; each is checked against its own nisab.
• Cash and trade goods: valued against a nisab standard. Official bodies in Malaysia and Singapore use the gold standard; you can switch to silver in the calculator.
• Money owed to you: zakat is paid every year on loans you are sure to get back.

Shafi’i rules and their sources

Question	Shafi’i ruling	Source
Worn jewellery	Exempt if permissible and within custom	MUIS, citing al-Nawawi’s al-Majmu’
Jewellery kept as savings, gold bars and coins	Zakatable	MUIS Office of the Mufti
Debts	Do not reduce zakat (relied-upon view)	SeekersGuidance, “Which debts affect zakat”
Gold and silver	Two classes, each with its own nisab, not added together	al-Nawawi, al-Majmu’
Nisab weights	20 mithqal of gold (87.48 g) and 5 awqiyah (200 dirham) of silver (612.35 g)	“No zakat on less than five awqiyah” (Bukhari 1447)
The lunar year	The nisab must be held for the whole year	Ibn Majah 1792
Children’s wealth	Zakatable; the guardian pays it	al-Nawawi, al-Majmu’

Jewellery and the nisab in the Shafi’i madhab

The exemption covers jewellery that a woman may wear and that she keeps for wearing, in amounts that are customary for women like her. A man’s gold ring or gold jewellery is not permitted to him, so it is zakatable. Jewellery bought as an investment, kept in a locker for the future, or broken and no longer wearable, is counted at its gold weight. Because gold and silver are separate classes, 50 g of gold and 400 g of silver are both below their nisab and carry no zakat, although their combined value would pass the silver nisab in the Hanafi calculation.

For cash, savings and trade goods, the Shafi’i authorities in Malaysia (such as the state zakat centres) and Singapore (MUIS) measure the nisab by gold, about Rs 31,55,882 today. Some Shafi’i scholars elsewhere advise the silver measure, which is lower and better for the poor. The calculator starts with gold and lets you switch.

Worked example in rupees (Shafi’i)

Fatima follows the Shafi’i madhab and lives in Karachi. On her zakat date she has Rs 25,00,000 in the bank, 60 g of 22K bangles she wears, and a loan of Rs 5,00,000 she is repaying. Take an example gold nisab of Rs 33,00,000 and silver nisab of Rs 3,60,000.

• Bangles: permissible and worn, so not counted.
• Debt: not subtracted, so the savings stay at Rs 25,00,000.
• With the gold nisab: Rs 25,00,000 is below Rs 33,00,000, so no zakat is due this year.
• With the silver nisab: it is above Rs 3,60,000, so zakat is 2.5% = Rs 62,500.

The choice of nisab decides the whole answer here, so ask a Shafi’i scholar you trust which one to use, and keep to it every year. A Hanafi with the same wealth would count the bangles, subtract the loan and use silver.

How the Shafi’i madhab differs from the others

• It is the only Sunni school that does not add gold and silver together.
• Like the Ahl-e-Hadith view, it does not subtract debts, so a person with large loans can pay more than under the Hanafi, Maliki or Hanbali rules.
• Like the Maliki and Hanbali schools, it exempts permissible worn jewellery.
• It requires the nisab for the whole lunar year, as the Hanbali school does.

Using this calculator, step by step

1. Enter cash, bank balances and any trade stock. Leave the debts box empty, or enter debts to see how the Hanafi result would change in the comparison.
2. Enter gold you keep as savings, coins and bars under Gold. Mark jewellery you wear as worn; it is left out of the Shafi’i total.
3. Choose gold or silver as the nisab for cash. The calculator starts with gold, as MUIS and the Malaysian zakat centres do.
4. Press calculate. Gold, silver and cash are each checked against their own nisab, and zakat is 2.5% of each class that reaches it.

For livestock and crops, which have their own nisab and rates, use the ushr and livestock calculator. To pay for a child, run the calculator for the child’s own savings separately.

See how the same numbers come out in every school in the madhab comparison. How we read each source is explained in our methodology.

Frequently asked questions