Zakat and caring for others
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 2 · The School
A calculation, not a mood
Zakat is 2.5% of qualifying wealth. That means savings, gold, silver and trade goods. The wealth must sit above a threshold called the NISAB. It must be held for one lunar year. The rule is deliberately arithmetic. A giver cannot talk themselves down from a sum. 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 come first. The list also includes those in debt. It includes travellers who are stranded. It includes the people who collect and distribute the zakat itself. A named list matters. It 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 with their load (Bukhari 2989).
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. Both exist to protect the person paying. The NISAB means someone with very little owes nothing. The duty begins only above a level of wealth. That level is 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 the two conditions make zakat a charge on wealth you have kept. It is not a charge on income. That is why it is worked out on what you still have, not on what you earned. It is also why a person who receives zakat one year may owe it in another.