I have read the question and reply regarding giving zakat to close family and I was wondering if the same would apply to a non-Muslim relative? My mother’s brothers and sisters, who are catholics, are going through difficult financial times. Would it be permissible for her to give them zakat to help them, or would the money she sends to them have to be other than the zakat money she pays out?

In a rigorously authenticated hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) equated faith in God and the last day with maintaining family relations. He said, “Let whoever believes in God and the last day maintain his ties of kinship” (Bukhari). Other hadiths explain that keeping good relations with one’s family applies to both Muslim and non-Muslim family members. In non-Muslim lands, it is even more important to keep good relations with one’s non-Muslim relatives because they will judge our religion based on our conduct.

With that in mind, giving charity to your mother’s brothers and sisters would be highly commendable. In one hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) equated one’s mother’s sister with one’s mother herself in terms of the good conduct that is due to her. To turn away from your relatives in their time of need would be blameworthy in our religion.

Zakat, however, is a specific charity that is generally only permissible to give to Muslims. It is a “minimum charity” that defines the least amount that a Muslim may confine himself to without being sinful. The way of the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) was to give his entire being in the service of His Lord, not to confine himself to minimum legal prescriptions.