My monthly salary reaches the minimum Zakatable amount every two months. How should I give Zakaah on it? Should I give Zakaah on each amount after it witnesses the elapse of one lunar year, which means I will pay Zakaah every two months? May the Hawl (elapse of a year) be calculated according to the solar year? Is Zakaah still due on the amount of money on which I paid Zakaah last year and a new lunar year has since elapsed?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

No Zakah is due on your salary unless a lunar year has elapsed on it whilst it sustains the Nisaab (the minimum amount liable for Zakah), either by itself or by addition to other money or trading goods in your ownership. When a lunar year has passed, Zakah becomes due.

There are two methods to set the start of a lunar year:

First: To set apart for each Zakatable amount a separate lunar year; when it passes, you give Zakah on the specified amount. Yet, this doubtless involves difficulty.

Second: To give Zakah on all your savings according to the first Zakatable amount you owned. This is greater in reward and includes more benevolence to the poor.

Calculating the Hawl should be done according to the lunar, not solar, year, because the former is less than the latter by eleven days or so; otherwise, the poor would not take their rights in full.

Zakah becomes due on money that has reached the minimum Zakatable amount after the elapse of one lunar year, even if Zakah was given on it after a previous lunar year. An exception is the output of agricultural land, on which Zakah is given when it is harvested – for only once.

Allaah Knows best.