Pay close attention to the comments on the page linked below, especially the 7th point in the second comment:
7.Fi Sabeelillah (in the cause of Allah ): this is a common word used for all good deeds, but in the case of Zakat it means rendering help to an endeavor to serve Islam such as the propagation of Islam, Jihad, etc.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100205104923AAh862S
The commenter is (unfortunately) absolutely right and is paraphrasing Koran 9:60 which requires zakat revenues to be spent, at least in part, on holy war.
Islam does not authorize “charity” (zakat or sadaqa) to go toward non-Muslims on non-Islamic causes. In the rare cases where zakat can be spent on unbelievers, it is spent for the purposes of converting us or at least facilitating conversion (ie, translating the Koran into the local language).
I’m a little concerned about Islamic charity to Haiti for this reason. Is it going toward earthquake relief, or is it going toward printing pamphlets about Islam and constructing a mosque in Port-au-Prince?
Thanks for visiting again and taking the time to comment. Notice how passage number 7 almost mentions jihad matter of factly, followed by etc.
I should say that, according to The Reliance of the Traveler, most schools of jurisprudence require that zakat go to each category in equal amounts, but also that there is one school of jurisprudence which allows Muslims to give to the 8 categories of their choice in varying amounts.
“Thanks for visiting again.” Oh, trust me, I visit very regularly! I wish additional readers would comment more often. We know they’re out there.
Sometimes it’s easier to be a lurker than a participator, I suppose.