Nisab 2026: Today’s Gold and Silver Nisab in USD, GBP, CAD, AUD

Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth you must hold before zakat becomes due, and it is set using either the value of 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver. Because gold and silver trade at different prices, the two standards give very different thresholds: the silver nisab is usually far lower than the gold nisab, since silver is worth much less per gram today than it was relative to gold centuries ago. Which one applies to you depends on your school of thought and, for cash savings, on which standard you choose to follow.

Today’s nisab in six currencies

The table below shows both standards side by side. Values update automatically from live gold and silver prices, so they will always match what you would get by calculating them yourself on the day you read this.

Why nisab exists

Nisab is not an arbitrary cutoff. It marks the point at which someone is considered to have surplus wealth beyond their basic needs, and is therefore able to give rather than receive. Below nisab, a person is not obligated to pay zakat, and may in fact be eligible to receive it. Above nisab, held for a full lunar year, zakat becomes due at 2.5% of net zakatable wealth. The threshold protects people with modest savings from being taxed on money they may need for essentials, while still capturing genuine surplus wealth for redistribution.

The two reference points, gold and silver, come directly from hadith that specify the amounts: 20 mithqal of gold (87.48 g) and 200 dirhams of silver (612.36 g). Neither figure was arbitrary at the time; they represented broadly comparable value in seventh-century Arabia, since gold and silver traded at a much narrower ratio than they do today.

Why charities and calculators show different numbers

If you have compared nisab figures across different websites or charity appeals, you have likely noticed they do not always match, sometimes by a wide margin. There are three common reasons.

Different standard. A site quoting the silver nisab will show a number roughly ten to fifteen times lower than one quoting the gold nisab, since silver is currently worth far less per gram than gold. Neither is wrong; they are answering a different question.

Stale prices. Gold and silver prices move daily. A number published even a few weeks ago, especially during a period of price volatility, can be noticeably out of date. Always prefer a live, dated figure over a printed one.

Different gram conventions. Most sources use 87.48 g for gold and 612.36 g for silver, matching 20 mithqal and 200 dirhams under the most widely cited conversion. A minority of sources round differently or use a slightly different historical dirham weight, producing small but real discrepancies.

Gold nisab or silver nisab: which should you use?

In practice, most contemporary Islamic finance institutions and fatwa bodies now recommend the gold nisab for cash, bank balances and mixed portfolios, partly for this reason. If you are unsure, the safer and more commonly practiced approach for most savers today is the gold standard, and our calculator lets you switch between both to compare your result.

How nisab is actually calculated

The math behind the number on this page is simple once you see it. Nisab in a given currency equals the current market price per gram of gold (or silver) multiplied by 87.48 (or 612.36). If gold is trading at $65 per gram, the gold nisab in US dollars is $65 × 87.48, or roughly $5,686. Because gold and silver prices are quoted in US dollars internationally and then converted, small movements in exchange rates can shift the local-currency nisab even on a day when the metal price itself barely moves.

This is also why nisab figures for the same standard can differ slightly between two calculators even when both are current: one may be pulling gold spot prices at a slightly different time of day, or applying a slightly different currency conversion rate.

Nisab is a threshold, not a starting point for calculation

A common point of confusion is thinking that once you are above nisab, you pay zakat only on the amount above the threshold, similar to how income tax brackets work in some countries. That is not how zakat works. Once your net zakatable wealth reaches or exceeds nisab, you pay 2.5% of your entire net zakatable wealth, not just the portion above nisab. Nisab is purely a qualifying threshold that determines whether zakat is due at all; it plays no role in the calculation itself once that question is answered.

Nisab and the lunar year (hawl)

Reaching nisab on a single day is not, by itself, enough to make zakat due. Zakat is only owed once wealth has remained at or above nisab for a full lunar year (hawl). If your wealth crosses above nisab and then drops back below it before a year has passed, the clock resets, and a new hawl only begins once you cross the threshold again. Most scholars hold that minor, brief fluctuations below nisab during the year do not necessarily break the hawl, particularly under the Hanafi view, which looks mainly at the wealth held at the start and end of the year rather than every point in between. If you are unsure how a specific dip in your savings should be treated, this is worth clarifying with a knowledgeable scholar.

Nisab for different types of wealth

Nisab applies slightly differently depending on the asset. For gold and silver themselves, you compare the weight you hold directly against the 87.48 g or 612.36 g thresholds. For cash, bank balances, shares, crypto and business stock, you convert everything to a single currency value and compare that total against the currency-equivalent nisab shown above. For livestock and crops, entirely separate nisab thresholds apply, measured in number of animals or weight of produce rather than currency, and are not covered by this page.

If you hold a mix of gold, silver, cash and other assets, add the currency value of everything together first, then compare the combined total to whichever nisab standard you have chosen. You do not calculate nisab separately for each asset category and then decide independently whether each one individually qualifies.

Where the 87.48 g and 612.36 g figures come from

The gold figure traces back to 20 mithqal, a unit of weight used in classical Arabia, and the silver figure to 200 dirhams. Converting mithqal and dirham into grams is where slight variation creeps in: the most widely cited conversion puts one mithqal at roughly 4.374 g, giving 87.48 g for 20 mithqal, and one dirham at roughly 3.0618 g, giving 612.36 g for 200 dirhams. A small number of sources use marginally different historical gram equivalents, which is why you will occasionally see nisab weights quoted as 85 g of gold or 595 g of silver instead. The difference between 85 g and 87.48 g changes the nisab currency value by a few percent, not by an order of magnitude, so it rarely changes whether a given person is above or below nisab, only the precise number.

These weights are not something scholars derived through independent reasoning; they come directly from hadith narrations that specify zakat obligations in terms of these exact quantities of gold and silver, along with parallel narrations covering nisab for livestock and crops. Because the source texts specify a weight of metal rather than a currency amount, the obligation has remained meaningful across fourteen centuries of currency changes, hyperinflation in some regions, and the complete disappearance of the coins the hadith originally described.

How different institutions apply the standard

National zakat authorities and major charities generally publish their own nisab figure rather than leaving individuals to calculate it themselves, both for convenience and to create a consistent reference point within their jurisdiction. Saudi Arabia’s zakat authority, Malaysian state zakat bodies, and Pakistan’s official Zakat and Ushr Ordinance each publish updated nisab figures, though they do not always agree on gold versus silver or on the exact gram conversion used. Independent calculators, including this one, generally default to whichever standard is most widely recommended by scholars for the visitor’s context, while allowing the user to switch standards manually.

This is worth knowing because if you belong to a community that follows a specific local authority’s zakat convention, whether through a mosque, a state zakat board, or a particular scholarly network, it is reasonable to defer to that authority’s published nisab figure even if it differs slightly from the general calculation shown here. The underlying method is the same; only the specific gram conversion or standard preference varies.

Nisab across the major schools of thought

All four Sunni schools accept both the gold and silver nisab as valid textual references; the disagreement is about which one takes precedence when calculating zakat on cash and mixed wealth, not whether either figure is authentic. Hanafi jurists have historically leaned toward giving the payer the choice of whichever standard is more generous to the poor, which in practice today usually means the lower, silver-based threshold. Shafi’i, Maliki and Hanbali scholars have more often anchored cash-equivalent zakat to the gold standard as the primary reference. In contemporary practice, this classical split matters less than it once did, since many modern fatwa councils across all schools now lean toward the gold standard specifically for cash savings, for the practical reason discussed earlier: an ultra-low nisab based on today’s silver price would obligate zakat on savings amounts that would not historically have been considered meaningful surplus wealth.

None of this means the classical positions have been abandoned. If your local scholar or zakat authority follows the silver standard, that remains a fully valid application of an established position, not an error. The purpose of covering both standards on this page, and in the calculator, is to let you apply whichever one is correct for your own school and community, rather than assuming one single number applies universally.

Common mistakes with nisab

Using a screenshot or printed number instead of checking live prices. Nisab changes daily. A number that was correct a month ago may already be meaningfully wrong.

Mixing gold and silver nisab figures within the same calculation. Pick one standard and use it consistently for that year’s zakat; do not compare part of your wealth against one standard and another part against the other.

Assuming nisab is a fixed currency amount that never changes. Because nisab is denominated in a weight of precious metal, its currency value moves with the market, sometimes significantly within a single year.

Treating nisab as a tax-bracket-style deduction. As covered above, reaching nisab makes the entire net zakatable amount subject to zakat, not just the excess above the threshold.

Frequently asked questions

Putting nisab into practice

The number that matters for your own zakat is not an abstract figure you look up once a year out of curiosity; it is the specific test that determines whether you owe anything at all. Check the live nisab in your currency and preferred standard, add up your zakatable wealth net of short-term debt, and compare the two. If your total is at or above nisab and has stayed there for a full lunar year, calculate 2.5% of the full amount. If it has not, no zakat is due for this year, though it is worth checking again the next time your zakat date comes around, since both your wealth and the nisab value itself change over time.

The calculator below applies today’s live gold and silver prices automatically, so you always see a current figure rather than one that may already be out of date.

Sources: Sunan Abu Dawood and other hadith collections on the 20-mithqal gold and 200-dirham silver thresholds, AAOIFI Shari’a Standards on zakat, Islamic Relief and National Zakat Foundation nisab conventions. Compiled from the fiqh manuals listed here; not yet scholar-reviewed.