Q.1. A woman has about 250 grams of gold jewelry, of which she normally wears about 40 percent. Is the remainder liable to zakah? If she has money, which is less than the threshold of zakah, does she add that to the value of the rest of her jewelry when calculating zakah? If she has no income of her own, can she put aside a small portion of the money her husband gives her every month in order to pay her zakah?
Q.2. What should women wear or not wear under their top clothes during the period of ihraam, or consecration in pilgrimage?
Q.3. Does the takbeer we say after obligatory prayers during the Eid of sacrifice apply also for Eid Al-Fitr? If so, for how long?
Abdulmajid, Riyadh
A. The first thing to say to this reader is that zakah is payable on the different types of money or property one holds, as long as they are liable to zakah, with only one threshold of zakah to be passed. The threshold, or nisab, is an amount that is exempt, and it is equivalent to 85 grams of gold, but it does not necessarily have to be in gold. If one has the value of that amount in cash, goods for sale, shares and stocks, etc., he or she has to pay zakah. Thus, a man or a woman who has over the threshold of zakah calculates their zakah liability, on their zakah date, by adding up what they have in cash, shares, savings, merchandise, animals, agricultural produce, etc., and pay zakah for the lot.
The reader seems to be confused between the value of this threshold, which is normally expressed in terms of gold, and the jewelry his wife has. A woman’s jewelry has a special status. It is treated as personal effects, like her clothes and similar stuff. Hence, it is normally exempt from zakah. The only conditions for that exemption to apply are: 1) that it should be for personal use; and 2) that its amount is reasonable for women in her social status. The first condition excludes jewelry held by a jeweler, even when the jeweler is a woman. Such jewelry is liable to zakah because it is, in this case, commercial merchandise. Similarly, jewelry held as a form of personal savings is liable to zakah. The second condition is that it should not be excessive. Most women have only a reasonable amount. In this woman’s case, it is certainly reasonable to have 250 grams of jewelry. Women in the middle of the social ladder normally hold more than this.
Zakah is a personal duty. A woman who has the threshold of zakah should pay her own zakah from her own money. If her husband decides to pay it on her behalf, he is making her a gift. But she may not "save" from the household expenses her husband gives her in order to pay her zakah, unless her husband is aware of that and he agrees to it. The woman in this case is worried because she has a small amount of money and she fears that it would dwindle. My understanding is that she has no zakah to pay, because her jewelry is exempt and the rest of her money does not add up to the threshold.
A.2. A woman in ihraam or consecration wears all her normal clothes. She is only required to leave her face and hands uncovered. She may not cover these while she is in ihraam.
A.3. The takbeer, or glorification of God for the Eid Al-Fitr, which ends fasting in Ramadan, applies only to the Eid prayer itself. It precedes the prayer and ends with the start of the sermon after the prayer. In the Eid of sacrifice, it begins with dawn on the day of Arafat and continues to the Asr prayer of the last day of the Eid. That makes five days in total. It may be said after prayers and at any other time.
