Zakat and caring for others
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 2 · The School
A calculation, not a mood
Zakat is 2.5% of qualifying wealth — savings, gold, silver, trade goods — held above a threshold (the NISAB) for one lunar year. It is deliberately arithmetic: the giver cannot talk themselves down, and the poor are not left depending on how generous someone feels this month.
Who receives it
The Quran names eight categories (9:60), the poor and the needy first, and also those in debt, travellers stranded, and those working to collect and distribute it. A named list means zakat cannot be quietly redirected to whatever a giver prefers.
Zakat and sadaqah
ZAKAT is obligatory, calculated, annual, and limited to those categories. SADAQAH is voluntary charity — any amount, any time, to anyone in need, and it includes non-money kindness: the Prophet ﷺ counted a smile, removing something harmful from a path, and helping someone lift a load.
A woman has held £8,000 in savings for a full lunar year, above the nisab threshold. The rate on cash and gold is 2.5%, so 8,000 × 0.025 = £200. Note what makes it due: the AMOUNT, held for a YEAR, above a threshold. Now compare with sadaqah — any amount, any time, no threshold, no calculation, entirely voluntary. Zakat is a due; sadaqah is a gift.
Why a threshold, and why a year
Two conditions decide whether zakat is due at all, and both exist to protect the person paying. The NISAB means someone with very little owes nothing — the obligation begins only above a level of wealth traditionally set against gold or silver. The lunar YEAR means wealth must have been held, not merely passed through: money that arrives and is spent on rent was never surplus. Together they make zakat a charge on accumulated wealth rather than on income, which is why it is calculated on what you still have rather than on what you earned. That is also why the person who receives zakat one year may owe it in another.