Zakat & Islamic Finance
Silver Zakat Calculator
Work out zakat on silver, with purity accounted for — sterling is 92.5% silver, not 100%.
Silver Zakat Calculator
This is a calculation aid, not a religious ruling. Zakat has conditions this tool cannot check — chiefly that wealth has been held for a full lunar year (hawl). For anything consequential, confirm the result with a scholar you trust.
About the Silver Zakat Calculator
This works out zakat on silver, with purity taken into account. Enter the weight, the purity as a percentage, and today's price per gram, and it returns the value and whether the nisab threshold is met.
Purity matters more with silver than people expect. Sterling silver is 92.5% silver, not pure, so a sterling item weighs more than its silver content. The tool separates gross weight from silver content and tests the threshold against the latter.
The silver nisab — commonly cited as 612.36 grams — is a far lower bar in money terms than the gold one, which is why the choice of basis matters so much when assessing cash.
How to use the Silver Zakat Calculator
- Enter the weight of your silver and pick the unit.
- Enter the purity — 92.5% for sterling, 100% for pure bullion.
- Look up today’s silver rate per gram and paste it in.
- Select Calculate zakat.
- Silver is usually combined with cash and gold rather than assessed on its own.
The calculation
Silver content = weight × (purity ÷ 100)
Value = weight × price per gram
Zakat = value × 2.5%, if the silver content reaches 612.36 g
Worked example
800 g of sterling silver (92.5% pure), at £0.65 per gram.
Silver content: 800 × 0.925 = 740 g — above the 612.36 g threshold.
Value: 800 × £0.65 = £520
£520 × 2.5% = £13
Had the same 800 g been 80% silver, the content would be 640 g — still over. At 70% it would be 560 g, and would not reach the threshold on silver alone.
The silver nisab in different units
| Unit | Silver nisab |
|---|---|
| Grams | 612.36 g |
| Kilograms | 0.612 kg |
| Tola (South Asia) | About 52.5 tola |
| Troy ounces | About 19.69 oz |
| Dirham (traditional) | 200 dirham |
As with gold, some institutions quote slightly different figures — 595 g and 612.35 g are both encountered. The variation comes from converting the classical dirham into modern units, and matters only near the threshold.
Common silver purities
| Type | Purity | Stamp | Weight needed for 612.36 g content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine silver | 99.9% | 999 | 613 g |
| Britannia | 95.8% | 958 | 639 g |
| Sterling | 92.5% | 925 | 662 g |
| Coin silver | 90% | 900 | 680 g |
| 800 silver | 80% | 800 | 765 g |
Most silver jewellery and tableware is sterling, stamped 925. If a piece carries no stamp, a jeweller can test it — guessing the purity will skew the result in either direction.
Why the silver threshold is so much lower
The two nisab weights come from a period when the gold-to-silver price ratio was far narrower, so the two thresholds represented broadly similar amounts of wealth. That ratio has widened enormously since, and today the silver nisab translates into a much smaller sum than the gold one.
| Basis | Weight | Illustrative rate | Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 87.48 g | £60 / g | About £5,249 |
| Silver | 612.36 g | £0.65 / g | About £398 |
Illustrative rates, not live prices. The gap is the reason the choice of basis is discussed so much. Many scholars and relief organisations favour silver precisely because the lower threshold means more people qualify and more reaches those entitled to receive it; others hold gold to be the more appropriate measure. This tool takes no position on the question.
Combining silver with other wealth
Where silver alone falls short of the threshold, it is commonly held that silver, gold and cash may be combined and assessed together against a single nisab. Someone with 400 g of silver, a little gold and some savings may well qualify on the total.
Use the money zakat calculator for a combined figure, adding metals at market value. The gold calculator values gold holdings with karat accounted for.
This calculator holds no gold or silver prices. Metal rates move daily, and a stored price would go stale silently and produce a wrong answer with no warning. You enter today’s rate yourself, which keeps the result correct on the day you use it and works in any currency.
This is a calculation aid, not a religious ruling. It performs arithmetic on figures you enter. It cannot verify the conditions that determine whether zakat is actually due — chiefly that the wealth has been held for a full lunar year (hawl), and how your particular debts and circumstances should be treated. Scholars and schools differ on several points, and practice varies by country and community. For anything consequential, confirm the result with a qualified scholar or your local zakat authority.
Related guides
Silver zakat percentage and amount
The zakat amount on silver is 2.5% of its value, once a lunar year, if you hold at least the silver nisab of 612.36 grams (52.5 tola). On 1,000 grams of pure silver, zakat is 25 grams of silver, or its value in money. Many scholars recommend the lower silver nisab for cash savings too, because it means more people give.
Other ways to use this calculator
- Zakat silver tola — the silver nisab of 612.36 g is 52.5 tola.
- Sterling silver zakat — sterling is 92.5% silver; enter the purity so only pure silver is counted.
Frequently asked questions
The figure most commonly cited is 612.36 grams of silver, from the classical measure of 200 dirham — about 52.5 tola or 19.69 troy ounces. Some institutions quote 595 g or 612.35 g, reflecting different conversions of the dirham into modern units. The difference is small and only matters if your holding sits close to the threshold.
Because the two weights were fixed when gold and silver prices were far closer together, so both thresholds represented similar wealth. That ratio has widened enormously since. Today the silver nisab converts to a much smaller sum, which is exactly why the choice of basis is discussed — and why many organisations prefer silver, since more people then qualify.
No. Sterling is 92.5% silver, so 800 g of sterling contains 740 g of actual silver. The nisab is tested against the silver content, not the gross weight, so you would need about 662 g of sterling to reach the 612.36 g threshold. Enter the purity above and the calculator separates the two figures for you.
It is commonly held that gold, silver and cash may be combined and assessed against a single nisab, which helps when no single holding reaches the threshold on its own. Practice on exactly how to combine them varies, so it is worth confirming. The money zakat calculator handles a combined total once you have valued each part.
Sources and further reading
- Islamic Relief — Zakat on gold and silver — commonly used nisab weights
- National Zakat Foundation — Nisab thresholds — gold versus silver basis in practice
- Assay Offices / British Hallmarking Council — Silver standards — sterling, Britannia and fine silver purities