The Nisab: Gold or Silver?
The Prescribed Amounts
The nisab is the minimum wealth threshold that, once reached and held for a full year, makes zakat due. It has two prescribed amounts. The gold nisab is twenty mithqals (dinars), about 85 grams (some conversions place it at 87.48 grams), based on the hadith: "There is no zakat on less than twenty dinars." The silver nisab is two hundred dirhams (five awaq), about 595 grams (some conversions place it at 612.36 grams), based on the hadith: "There is no zakat on less than five awaq."
Their Dollar Value Today
The dollar value of both nisabs changes daily with the metal's market price. At prices recorded on July 31, 2026 (about $130.79 per gram for gold and $1.88 per gram for silver), the gold nisab is about $11,117 (or $11,441 at the higher conversion), and the silver nisab is about $1,119 (or $1,151 at the higher conversion). Because silver saw an exceptional rise in 2025–2026 (from about $30 per ounce to a historic peak of $121.62 on January 29, 2026, before settling near $58), the gap between the two nisabs has narrowed relative to previous years.
Which One Should I Use? A Considered Disagreement
The silver nisab is far lower than the gold nisab (currently about a 1-to-10 ratio), so whoever adopts it becomes liable for zakat at a lower wealth level, bringing more people into its scope and benefiting the poor more. For this reason, most contemporary scholars and American zakat organizations favor the silver nisab as a precaution. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in his book "Fiqh al-Zakat," favored gold instead, writing: "This view is sound in direction and strong in argument... it is preferable that we limit the nisab estimate in our era to gold, and that estimating it by silver, while more beneficial to the poor, is unfair to asset owners," reasoning that gold is closer to matching the nisabs prescribed for camels, livestock, and produce. Adopting the higher gold nisab protects those of modest wealth from zakat being due on them, while adopting the lower silver nisab protects the rights of the deserving poor by widening the circle of those on whom zakat is due. Both considerations are religiously valid.