Confused about nisaab for zakah?

[a.s.]

1. If a person possesses 612.35 grams of silver or 87.479 grams of gold or any currency that equals the value of this amount of gold or silver, and this wealth remains in his possession for a complete year, then on the expiry of this year it will be wajib on him to give zakaat for it. If his wealth is less than this, zakaat will not be wajib. If it is more than this, zakaat will still be wajib.

This is from: http://www.central-mosque.com/fiqh/Zakat.htm

So I looked up the current values of a gram of gold and a gram of silver; I did the math and came up with the nisaab values.

But the nisaab value are different.
If you do the math for silver, the nisaab = $636.84
If you the math for gold, the nisaab = $4,670.5

The two value are so far apart! Im sure I did the math right. What nisaab do you choose if the two are different? Or am I going about this all wrong?

NOTE: im not even eligible to pay zakah, I was just curious to see what the values would be.

[hope1]

This is from: http://www.central-mosque.com/fiqh/Zakat.htm

So I looked up the current values of a gram of gold and a gram of silver; I did the math and came up with the nisaab values.

But the nisaab value are different.
If you do the math for silver, the nisaab = $636.84
If you the math for gold, the nisaab = $4,670.5

The two value are so far apart! Im sure I did the math right. What nisaab do you choose if the two are different? Or am I going about this all wrong?

NOTE: im not even eligible to pay zakah, I was just curious to see what the values would be.

Assalamu alaikum,

Yes this has always been the case. However the divergence between gold and silver increased after the discovery of silver mines in South America in the 1500s (from what I heard/read).

Nevertheless, some say gold should be followed and some say silver. The rule as mentioned in the books is whatever benefits the poor more should be followed. As a result the Indian scholars say the silver nisab should be followed because by doing so more people will qualify for paying zakat and as a result more zakat will be contributed.

I have also created a Live Nisab update calculator which updates automatically every few minutes. It's here: http://academyofresearch.blogspot.ca/2011/08/httpsdocs.html

[a.s.]

Assalamu alaikum,

Yes this has always been the case. However the divergence between gold and silver increased after the discovery of silver mines in South America in the 1500s (from what I heard/read).

Nevertheless, some say gold should be followed and some say silver. The rule as mentioned in the books is whatever benefits the poor more should be followed. As a result the Indian scholars say the silver nisab should be followed because by doing so more people will qualify for paying zakat and as a result more zakat will be contributed.

I have also created a Live Nisab update calculator which updates automatically every few minutes. It's here: http://academyofresearch.blogspot.ca/2011/08/httpsdocs.html

Thanks for the chart. Its has just about the same nisaab value as I had calculated.
What I dont understand is, why there is such a huge gap between the two nisaab values for Gold and Silver. Is it because of the modern economy? Did the two values used to be closer in the Prophets (SAW) time?