Salam Reader, Tomorrow afternoon I’m teaching a workshop at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, insha’Allah. It’s a workshop that has been in development for nearly four years. It started on November 12, 2022, when I taught the first version of it and called it Muslim Money Made Simple. About ten people showed up, most of them close friends and family, and I walked in with a few faint ideas about the need to talk about personal finance as Muslims and a handful of barebones slides. One moment...

Salam Reader, Most of us pay our Zakat in Ramadan. And with these last few nights upon us, many of us are thinking about it right now. There is no formal obligation to pay your Zakat al-Mal during Ramadan. Everyone’s Zakat anniversary is different, determined by when your wealth first reached the nisab threshold. Technically, your Zakat could be due in Rajab or Dhul Hijjah or any other month of the year. But most Muslims gravitate toward Ramadan anyway. Ramadan is the month when good deeds...

Salam Reader, Assalamu alaykum, During his caliphate, Uthman ibn Affan (ra) made a decision that shaped the way Muslims have calculated zakat ever since. He saw that the state tracking people’s private wealth caused hardship on the Ummah and harm to its owners. So he made a distinction. The state would collect zakat on visible wealth like livestock and crops, but the zakat on a Muslim’s private wealth (gold, silver, and trade goods) would be on the individual to calculate and pay. Since then,...