In the house
What is hawl, the lunar year for zakat?
Updated 6 September 2026
Nisab is not the whole test
Nisab is the threshold. Hawl is the time. A common cash-and-trade model says zakat is due when zakatable wealth has remained at or above nisab for one lunar year. Looking at a number on 1 January and paying 2.5% because a calculator lit up green is not that test.
The calculator on this site does the multiplication. It does not know when your year started. It does not know whether you dipped below nisab in Ramadan. That is deliberate. A webpage that stored your balances would be a different product, and it would still not be a fatwa.
Lunar, not tax year
A hijri year is shorter than the Gregorian year most payrolls use. If you line zakat up with 31 December because that is when the ISA statement arrives, you are using a convenience, not the classical clock. Some households pick a hijri date they remember — often Ramadan — and stick to it. That is a household habit. It is not a figure we will invent for you.
Salary and messy years
Paycheques complicate the simple picture. Some people wait until leftover savings complete a hawl. Some treat incoming salary as immediately relevant once they already hold nisab. That disagreement lives on the salary page. This page only says: time is part of the ruling, and we will not hide it behind a button.
Quick answers
- Is a lunar year 365 days?
- No. It is about eleven days shorter than a solar year. Use a hijri calendar you trust, not a guess.
- Does the calculator know my hawl?
- No. It only does the arithmetic you type. You keep the date.
- What if I spend below nisab mid-year?
- In the common cash model, the clock can reset. Details vary. Ask your scholar if the year was messy.
General information, not a fatwa. Where scholars differ, we try to say so. For your situation, ask a scholar you trust.