[KraskiNetu]

Assalamualaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatahu,

Hoping someone here can help resolve my dilemma:

I had a student loan due last year, which if I paid in full, I would have to pay no interest.
In February 2010 I finally had enough money to pay it off, here are the approx. figures:

Loan = $22,000
Money in Bank = $23,500

I actually paid off my debt in April and I believe in May (rabi ul thaani) I became saahib-e-nisaab (according to gold). However, after speaking to a scholar recently he said we should calculate nisaab according to silver, so that would mean I became saahib-e-nisaab in February when my total money minus my debt was $1500.

So my dilemma is that if I calculate nisaab according to silver, then more than a year has passed and therefore I would be sinful for not discharging zakat in time right? And if I calculate nisaab according to gold then it has been less than a year and I can still pay it off in time.

Obviously I don't have an issue with using the silver amount to calculate zakat as this would benefit the needy - but due to ignorance I didn't know this and more than a year passed. So I was wondering whether in this case it would be better to use the gold calculation to avoid the sin of delayed payment?

I hope I wasn't too confusing and somewhat made sense.

JazakAllahu Khairan.