Global Gold Price Volatility and Wealth Zakat Nisab: An Islamic Governance Framework for Transparent Valuation

The fluctuation of the gold price in the international market has a more pronounced impact on the nisab (the minimum threshold of wealth) of wealth zakat in today’s Muslim jurisdictions. In classical Islamic jurisprudence, the nisab for gold is set at twenty dinars, which, in the present context, is equivalent to about 85 grams of pure gold. However, in a rapidly fluctuating commodity and foreign exchange market, modern zakat institutions must determine the nisab of gold in local currency. This article will analyse the implications of global gold price fluctuations for wealth nisab within the integrative approach of zakat jurisprudence, Islamic economics, and Islamic governance. The method used in the study is qualitative library research, doctrinal legal research, and integrative synthesis of classical fiqh texts and fatwas, as well as references from the gold market and zakat governance literature, and international zakat standards. The article argues that the weight-based nisab of gold is a juristic threshold that cannot be changed, and that the currency value of the nisab is an administrative ijtihad that should be subject to a transparent methodology, periodic re-evaluation, and public debate. The results conclude that the gold price volatilities contain four implications, such as the instability of nisab based on the currency unit, there may be changes in the population of the muzakki (zakat payer), the revenue of the zakat fluctuates, and if the method of valuing gold is not clearly regulated, there will be risks to the legitimacy of the zakat institutions. The article proposes a model of Islamic governance grounded in Shariah fidelity, price data reliability, institutional transparency, maqasid-based fairness, auditability, and public communication. It establishes that, for the zakat authorities, selecting the gold price is not only a technical matter but also a governance-sensitive ijtihad that should consider legal continuity and social-economic justice.