Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
As long you do not have any assets, you are not subject to Zakah.
Responding to your question, Prof. Dr. MonzerKahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
According to what you said and provided that you do not have other assets such as rental property, shares or stocks, you are not subject to Zakah, especially that credit card’s debt is due immediately.
However, if the gold is yours, you are still not subject to Zakah because its amount can hardly pay for the immediate debt.
But you are making a very bad decision by holding it while you have a big debt that accumulates high rate of interest. You should sell it to pay the debt.
However, if the gold is owned by your wife, she is subject to Zakah at its market price every lunar year (354 days) the first year begins the day she obtained the first 85 grams (amount of nisab) at the rate of 2.5% and this is repeated every year. Mind you that she is a totally independent person and has her own independent finance.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.