Help & glossary

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. Once your savings stay above a set threshold for a full lunar year, you give 2.5% of them to those in need. Think of it like an annual act of giving that also keeps your wealth clean.

Nisab is the cut-off line for zakat. If your savings are below it, you owe nothing. If they are above it, zakat becomes due. It is pegged to the value of about 87.5 grams of gold, which works out to roughly S$9,600 today.

Haul is the one-year clock for zakat. It starts the day your savings first pass the nisab, and when a full lunar year has gone by with them still above it, your zakat falls due. The lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the calendar year.

Not everything you own counts for zakat. Your home and the things you use day to day are exempt. What counts is wealth that grows or sits as savings: cash, gold and silver, shares, business stock and the like. Hanif totals this for you, then takes 2.5%.

Separate from the zakat on wealth, Zakat Fitrah is a small fixed amount paid once a year in Ramadan, for each member of the household, so that everyone can share in Eid. It is modest and the same for rich and poor alike.

Where zakat is an obligation, sadaqah is giving from the heart: any amount, any time, to any good cause. A kind word counts too. It is a way to keep giving beyond what is strictly required.

Zakat is only due on what you completely own and can freely use. Money you cannot yet touch, such as shares granted by an employer that have not vested, is not yet fully yours, so it is left out until it is.

Faraid is the Islamic law of inheritance. Rather than leaving it to chance or dispute, the Qur'an sets fixed shares for close family, such as a spouse, children and parents. Hanif works out each person's share so your family is provided for the way the Shariah intends.

A wasiyyah lets you direct up to one third of your estate to whoever you choose, such as a charity, a mosque or a relative who would not otherwise inherit. The remaining two thirds follow the fixed faraid shares. It is how you add your own wishes within the Shariah.

A waqf is a gift that keeps giving. You set aside an asset, such as property or money, and its ongoing benefit goes to a cause for good, like a school or a well. It is a classic form of ongoing charity (sadaqah jariyah) that continues after you pass.

Some heirs are given an exact fraction in the Qur'an, for example a wife receives one eighth when there are children. These fixed portions are settled first, before anything is shared out among the remaining heirs.

After the fixed Qur'anic shares are given out, the rest of the estate goes to the residuary heirs, known as asaba, usually sons and daughters. Where they share together, a son's portion is twice a daughter's, as the Qur'an sets out.

Riba is money made simply from lending money, such as bank interest. Islam forbids it. It is why a conventional savings account or a lender whose core business is interest does not pass a halal screen.

Gharar is deep uncertainty: a contract where what you get is unclear or left to chance, close to gambling. Islam asks that deals be clear and fair to both sides, so heavily speculative products are avoided.

Even a mostly halal company may earn a little from something impermissible, like interest on spare cash. Purification (tathir) means working out that small share of your gains and giving it to charity, so what you keep is clean. Hanif calculates the amount for you.

A conventional bond pays interest, which is riba. A sukuk is structured so that you own a portion of a real asset or project and share in its actual returns instead. It is a common building block of a halal portfolio.

Wherever you are in the world, you pray facing the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. Hanif shows the exact bearing for your location so you can line up before you pray.

The Qur'an is split into thirty parts called juz, so it can be read steadily, for example one part a day across a month. Hanif tracks which juz you are on and how far through you are.

A khatm is finishing the entire Qur'an, all thirty juz. Many aim for at least one khatm a year, and more during Ramadan. Hanif counts your progress towards your next one.

A madhab is a long-established school of Islamic jurisprudence, such as the Shafi'i, Hanafi, Maliki or Hanbali. They share the same foundations but can differ on details, which can change how a calculation like zakat is done. Hanif keeps your answers correct for your school.

The Shafi'i school is the madhab most commonly followed in Singapore and the Malay world, and the one MUIS follows. Hanif launches correct for the Shafi'i school, with the other Sunni schools to follow.

MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura) is the statutory body that oversees Muslim affairs in Singapore, including collecting zakat. Hanif aligns its calculations and practice with MUIS so your giving fits the local system.

IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) runs the country's taxes. Helpfully, zakat paid through MUIS is recognised for income-tax relief, so a scholar-signed pack from Hanif is something you can log with IRAS.