Zakat and the Lunar Year: Tracking Your Hawl

The hawl is the full year that zakatable wealth must remain in a person's ownership before zakat on it becomes due. It runs on wealth at or above the nisab, the minimum threshold of zakatable wealth (for money, set by a value of gold or silver) below which no zakat is due. Scholars and zakat institutions treat it as a lunar (Hijri) year of 12 months, which lasts 354 or 355 days, about 11 days shorter than a Gregorian year. Because of this, a zakat date fixed in the Hijri calendar arrives about 11 days earlier on the Gregorian calendar each year. Some institutions allow people who keep their accounts by the Gregorian year to use it instead, at a slightly higher rate of 2.577%. That option is set out below with its sources. It is not a recommendation.

Key Takeaways

• Narrations in Sunan Abi Dawud and Sunan Ibn Majah state that no zakat is due on wealth until a hawl (a full year) has passed over it.
• The default zakat year is the lunar Hijri year of 354 or 355 days, according to Egypt's Dar al-Ifta and the UK's National Zakat Foundation.
• A common practice is to note the Hijri date on which your wealth first reached the nisab, and use the same Hijri date each year.
• Some bodies, including AAOIFI and Dar al-Ifta, permit a Gregorian year at 2.577% instead of 2.5%, to make up for the roughly 11 extra days.
• Rulings differ on details, so confirm your situation with a qualified scholar.

What the hadith say about the hawl

The hawl requirement comes from the Sunnah. In Sunan Abi Dawud 1573, Ali ibn Abi Talib reports the Prophet ﷺ describing zakat on silver and gold: on two hundred dirhams, "and one year passes on them, five dirhams are payable." The same narration states that "No zakat is payable on property till a year passes on it." Sunnah.com shows al-Albani's grading of this narration as Sahih.

In Sunan Ibn Majah 1792, Aishah reports hearing the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "There is not Zakat on wealth until Hawl (one year) has passed." Sunnah.com gives Darussalam's grading as Hasan.

At-Tirmidhi records a similar wording from Ibn Umar. The version attributed directly to the Prophet ﷺ, Jami at-Tirmidhi 631, is graded Da'if (Darussalam) on sunnah.com. In Jami at-Tirmidhi 632, at-Tirmidhi says the version from Ibn Umar's own words is more authentic. He adds that Malik, ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad and Ishaq held that newly acquired wealth owes no zakat until a hawl passes over it.

Five dirhams on two hundred is one-fortieth, which is where the familiar rate of 2.5% comes from.

Why the zakat year is a lunar year

The hadith say "a year" without naming a calendar. Scholars read it as the year Muslims counted by: 12 lunar months. The Quran sets the number of months at twelve. In Sahih International's translation of Surah at-Tawbah 9:36, it reads: "Indeed, the number of months with Allāh is twelve [lunar] months in the register of Allāh." Surah al-Baqarah 2:189 calls the crescent moons "measurements of time for the people and for ḥajj."

Modern institutions apply this to zakat directly. A 2023 fatwa from Egypt's Dar al-Ifta (fatwa 8124, in Arabic) states that the zakat year is basically the lunar Hijri year, with a rate of 2.5%. The Zakat Foundation of America's conditions of zakat say the nisab must stay in one's possession "for one full lunar year (hawl) before zakat is due."

The hawl applies to wealth such as cash, gold, silver and trade goods. Crops are different. Sahih International's translation of Surah al-An'am 6:141 says to "give its due [zakāh] on the day of its harvest," so produce has no year to wait for.

How much shorter the lunar year is

The US Naval Observatory notes that 12 lunar months are, on average, 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year, so the Islamic year shifts earlier each civil year by about that amount. In the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, 1446 AH has 354 days, while 1447 and 1448 AH each have 355. The article on how many days are in a Hijri year explains why the total varies.

Over a lifetime the gap adds up. Thirty-three Gregorian years contain 34 Hijri years. Dar al-Ifta's fatwa makes the same point: counting by the solar year alone would skip one year of zakat roughly every 33 years.

Fixing your zakat anniversary in the Hijri calendar

Zakat bodies such as the National Zakat Foundation advise you to fix one date and use it every year. The UK-based NZF explains when to pay zakat this way: "The moment your wealth equals or surpasses Nisab, that will initiate a new year for Zakat." Zakat becomes payable if your wealth is still at or above the nisab after one lunar year. You then use the same date the following year. If your wealth is below the nisab at that point, NZF says no zakat is due, and a new cycle starts when it reaches the nisab again. NZF also says you may estimate the date if you do not know it exactly.

Scholars differ on what happens during the year. The Zakat Foundation of America reports that, according to Abu Hanifah, the nisab "need only be available at the beginning and at the end of the zakat year." The other three major schools require it to stay in your ownership for the whole lunar year. At-Tirmidhi records a related difference over money acquired in the middle of the year. Sufyan ath-Thawri and the scholars of Kufa added it to wealth that was already zakatable, while others gave the new money its own hawl. Which view applies to you is a question for a scholar.

A worked example

Suppose someone's savings first reached the nisab on 15 Ramadan 1447. In the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, that was Wednesday 4 March 2026. Their Hijri zakat dates then fall on these Gregorian days:

Dates are calculated from the Umm al-Qura tables in the open-source hijri-converter library (@tabby_ai/hijri-converter) that this site uses. Your local Hijri calendar may differ by a day.

Two points follow from the table. First, someone who instead kept 4 March as their date every year would, by 4 March 2029, be paying on 19 Shawwal 1450, more than a month after the lunar anniversary. Second, since the Islamic day begins at sunset, 15 Ramadan 1448 technically begins on the evening of Sunday 21 February 2027.

Choosing a memorable Hijri date, such as a date in Ramadan, is a planning convenience. NZF notes that paying in Ramadan is not required. It also says zakat may be paid early, but the amount due should still be checked on the anniversary itself, with any shortfall made up.

The solar-year option and the 2.577% rate

Businesses, funds and many salaried people keep their accounts by the Gregorian year. Some institutions allow zakat to be assessed on that year, as long as the rate is raised to make up for the extra days:

• Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya (Egypt). Fatwa 8124 permits using the Gregorian year when it is hard to assess wealth by the lunar year, for example because a business's accounts follow the Gregorian calendar. In that case, the rate becomes 2.577% instead of 2.5%. The fatwa works this out as 2.5 × 365 ÷ 354. The unrounded result is about 2.5777.
• AAOIFI. The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions issues Shari'ah Standard No. 35 on Zakah. The National Zakat Foundation's note on using a solar year for zakat says that, according to the AAOIFI standards, "a solar year can be used," with zakat then paid at 2.577%. NZF adds: "At NZF we advise using the lunar calendar."
• Islamic financial institutions. A conference paper on zakat practice in Malaysia, Abojeib and colleagues (7th AICIF, 2019), found that most institutions disclosing a rate applied 2.5%, with one applying 2.5775% and another 2.575%. The authors argue that, because these institutions prepare solar-year financial statements, they should use 2.577% or 2.5775%, noting that "Using 2.5% will result in paying less zakat than should be."

As a plain illustration of the arithmetic only, 2.5% of 10,000 units is 250, while 2.577% of 10,000 is 257.70. The higher rate covers the roughly 11 extra days in a Gregorian year. It is not an extra charge.

These are positions of particular institutions. They are not a ruling for every case. Dar al-Ifta ties its permission to genuine difficulty, and NZF still recommends the lunar year. Whether the solar option suits your circumstances, and how to treat a change from one calendar to the other, are questions to put to a qualified scholar or a recognized zakat body in your country. This article describes the calendar side only. It is not financial or religious advice on what you owe.

Common questions

Does the hawl restart if I spend some of my savings?

Spending does not restart it as long as your wealth stays at or above the nisab. In the NZF approach, the question is whether your wealth is at or above the nisab on the anniversary. The schools differ if your wealth drops below the nisab in the middle of the year: according to the Zakat Foundation of America, Abu Hanifah looked only at the start and end of the year, while the other three major schools require the nisab to be held for the whole year. Ask a scholar if this happens to you.

What if I never recorded the date I reached the nisab?

NZF says you may estimate the date. Many people then choose a fixed Hijri date close to it and keep using that date.

Tracking your zakat date

1. Find the date your zakatable wealth first reached the nisab, or a careful estimate, and turn it into a Hijri date with the Hijri date converter.
2. Write down the Hijri day and month, for example 15 Ramadan, rather than only the Gregorian date.
3. Each year, convert that Hijri date for the coming year and add it to your diary. It will usually land about 11 days earlier than the year before, for the reasons covered in why Islamic dates move each year.
4. If you keep accounts by the Gregorian year and are considering the 2.577% option, settle it with a qualified scholar first, then apply it consistently.