One Year After Morocco's Zakat Fatwa: How the Kingdom Is Implementing It
When the Supreme Council of Scholars published its comprehensive zakat fatwa in October 2025 - under a royal order from King Mohammed VI, Amir al-Mu'minin - the question that followed was practical: how does a ruling on paper change what happens in Moroccan homes? One year on, the answer is taking shape through the religious institutions themselves.
A quick reminder: what the fatwa says
The fatwa - drafted by the Council's fatwa commission, approved by the King on 22 October 2025 and published on 24 October - restates and modernizes the rules of Zakat al-Mal, principally along Maliki lines:
- 2.5% (a quarter of a tenth) on zakatable wealth
- Nisab: 85 grams of gold in value
- Hawl: wealth held for one lunar year
- Zakatable categories extended to modern assets - professional revenues, financial holdings, merchandise - alongside the classical ones
- Distribution to the eight categories of Surah At-Tawbah (9:60)
The Council framed its objective deliberately: explanation (al-bayan), transmission (at-tabligh) and reminder (at-tadhkir) - teaching the obligation, not just declaring it.
The June 2026 session: operationalization on the agenda
At the 37th ordinary session of the Supreme Council (Rabat, 20-21 June 2026, under the King's patronage), the commissions reviewed how the fatwa is being rolled out. Two work streams matter for zakat:
- Implementation through the councils - the session examined how regional and local scholars' councils carry the fatwa to their communities: mosque lessons, question-and-answer sessions, and guidance fitted to each region's economic life (farming, commerce, livestock).
- Tasdid Al-Tabligh - the national outreach program, whose expansion the session endorsed, gives the communication a structure: trained imams and morchidine, prepared khutba cycles, and coordination between the ministry and the councils.
In plain terms: the Kingdom chose teaching over collection. The fatwa is being brought to the people through the mosque network, so that giving zakat becomes an informed, deliberate act - not a withheld one out of ignorance of the rules.
What has not changed
Honesty about the limits matters as much as the progress:
- Zakat in Morocco remains a voluntary religious duty, not a state-collected levy - no ministry collects it, and nothing in the fatwa or its implementation changes that
- The fatwa did not create new rates, nor did it touch Zakat al-Fitr's separate annual opinion
- Regional application is gradual - awareness campaigns are being phased through 2026-2027
Applying it yourself: the practical path
The fatwa's own objective - that citizens know their obligation - is served best by tools that make the ruling computable:
- Check the nisab - is your zakatable wealth at or above 85 grams of gold in value?
- Count the hawl - has it been held a lunar year?
- Compute 2.5% - our Zakat al-Mal calculator applies the fatwa's rules, updated with current gold prices for the nisab
- Distribute to the eight categories, beginning with the poor and the needy - directly or through trusted intermediaries
For the full text in accessible form, see the Zakat fatwa summary in our Fatwa Library, and for the end-of-Ramadan charity, the Zakat al-Fitr page with the official 25 DH amount for 1447/2026.
Zakatable assets at a glance
The fatwa's core categories, with their rates:
| Asset | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cash, bank balances | 2.5% | On the total held at hawl's end |
| Gold and silver | 2.5% | Valued at the nisab (85 g gold) |
| Professional and commercial income | 2.5% | Net of legitimate expenses |
| Merchandise and stock | 2.5% | Valued at market price on the due date |
| Financial assets and savings products | 2.5% | Per the fatwa's modern-asset guidance |
| Livestock (camels, cattle, sheep) | Per-head scale | The classical nisab tables apply |
The Zakat al-Mal calculator applies these rules with the current gold price for the nisab.
Sources
This article summarizes the Council's published fatwa and reporting on its 37th session. For the authoritative text, consult cso.ma and the Ministry of Habous.
