Zakat calculator for the Gulf and Arab states
Follow a different school, or in another country?
By school of jurisprudence
By region
Across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, the reference point for Zakat is the AAOIFI standard — the same standard the region’s Islamic banks are audited against. Nisab here is shown in dirhams, and because the dirham and riyal are pegged to the dollar, the threshold moves only with the metal price.
| Weight convention | AAOIFI / majority convention — 85 g gold, 595 g silver |
|---|---|
| Operative threshold | The lower of the two, in practice silver |
| Follows the positions of | AAOIFI · OIC International Islamic Fiqh Academy · UAE Council for Fatwa |
| Currencies | UAE dirham (AED), pegged at 3.6725 to the US dollar; Saudi riyal (SAR), pegged at 3.75 to the US dollar; Qatari riyal (QAR); Kuwaiti dinar (KWD); Bahraini dinar (BHD); Omani rial (OMR) |
The Gulf follows the AAOIFI and majority weight conversion: 85 grams of gold, 595 grams of silver. AAOIFI is headquartered in Bahrain and its Sharia Standard on Zakah is the reference document for Islamic financial institutions across the region.
The threshold, in AED
Nisab is a weight of metal, so its value in your currency moves with the market. The figures below are refreshed from live international spot prices when the page loads.
Gram weights are fixed and are stated above. The currency values are indicative: they are rendered into the page as static figures and upgraded to live spot prices when the price feed responds.
Why the peg makes the Gulf threshold unusually stable
The dirham and the riyal are pegged to the US dollar, so the only thing moving your nisab figure is the gold or silver price itself. Muslims in the UK, Pakistan or Turkey watch their threshold move on two axes at once — the metal price and their own currency against the dollar. In the Gulf there is only one.
That does not make the figure static. Silver in particular can move several percent in a week, and a threshold you checked last Ramadan may be materially wrong this one.
Which threshold applies here
The AAOIFI standard takes the lower of the two thresholds, which in current prices is always silver. That is the BarakahFlow default for Gulf users.
If you personally follow the Hanbali school, dominant in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, or the Shafi’i school, widely followed in Oman’s Sunni communities and among South Asian and East African residents of the region, the gold threshold may be the one that applies to you. The app will switch to it and you can compare the two figures side by side before deciding.
Gold, and how much of it is counted
Gold holdings in Gulf households are typically larger than the global average, and typically at 22 or 21 karat rather than 24. Valuing an entire piece at the 24 karat price overstates it by roughly a tenth.
BarakahFlow prices 24, 22, 21 and 18 karat separately, and excludes stones, settings and alloy. It also lets you record which pieces are actually worn, because that is the input the Hanafi and majority positions on jewellery disagree about.
A worked example in dirhams
- Cash across current and savings accounts
- AED 60,000
- Gold bullion and investment pieces, 60g at 22 karat
- AED 30,900
- Less: credit card and bills due within the year
- − AED 10,000
- Zakatable base
- AED 80,900
- Zakat due at 2.5%
- AED 2,023
The silver threshold applied here is roughly AED 5,206, so this person is well clear of it. Note that the gold in this example is held as investment rather than worn — worn jewellery would be exempt on the AAOIFI default, and counted in full if you follow the Hanafi school.
Gulf & Arab States Zakat, commonly asked
What is the nisab in AED right now?
On the AAOIFI standard the threshold is the lower of the two metals, which is silver at 595 grams. At the gold and silver prices current at the time of writing that is roughly AED 5,206, against roughly AED 47,721 for the 85 gram gold threshold.
These figures move with the metal price. BarakahFlow refreshes them from live international spot prices roughly every thirty seconds while the calculator is open, so you are not working from a number someone published last year.
Is Zakat compulsory by law in the UAE?
No. Zakat in the UAE is a personal religious obligation rather than a state-collected tax, and there is no government assessment or filing. The UAE Zakat Fund exists to receive and distribute it, but paying through it is voluntary.
Saudi Arabia is the exception in the region: it levies Zakat on Saudi and GCC-owned businesses through ZATCA. That is a corporate assessment and is separate from the personal Zakat al-Mal this calculator deals with.
I am an expatriate in Dubai sending money home. Where do I pay?
Zakat is calculated on your wealth wherever it is held, so money in a UAE account and money in an account back home both count towards the same total. Convert everything into one currency to test against nisab.
On where to pay it, the majority position favours the poor of the place where the wealth is located, but transferring it to relatives or a needy community elsewhere is widely permitted and in some cases preferred. This is a question worth putting to a scholar rather than settling from a calculator.
Does BarakahFlow support Gulf currencies other than the dirham?
Yes. The Saudi riyal, Qatari riyal, Kuwaiti dinar, Bahraini dinar and Omani rial are all supported, alongside twenty currencies in total. Pegged rates are applied exactly rather than being pulled from a floating feed, so the pegged currencies do not drift.
Compare with another method
The same holdings produce different figures under different schools and conventions. Seeing the comparison is the point.
Get the number that actually applies to you.
BarakahFlow applies your school, your region, your currency and your Hawl, values gold at each karat separately, handles debt properly, and keeps a record you can defend three years from now.
BarakahFlow states scholarly positions and attributes them. It does not issue fatwa. For a binding ruling on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified scholar.
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