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Fatwa CenterA Muslim is allowed to help non-Muslims who are not warring with Muslims
Question
A muslim and a christian persons asked for my help to forward their CVs to apply in a vacancy in the company I'm working in. Kindly note that I'll only be sending CVs, not interviewing them and not deciding who gets approved or rejected. Also note that sending CVs this way is legal and official as the company asked the employees to send CVs of their referrals. The question is, Does Islam allow me to help both muslim and christian persons or shall I only help the muslim and refuse to help the christian?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is permissible to be kind and generous to non-Muslims who are not warring with the Muslims. Seeking the reward of Allaah for helping them and assisting them in their livelihood is considered as a good deed as this encourages them to enter Islam and brings them closer to the true religion.
However, if helping a Muslim conflicts with helping a non-Muslim in a way that only one of them would receive the benefit of such help, then there is no doubt that helping the Muslim takes priority, as the Muslims are joined by the bond of faith and the rights of brotherhood in religion as Allaah says (what means): {The believers are but brothers.} [Quran 49:10]
At-Taahir ibn ‘Aashoor said about the interpretation of the above verse: "There is strong evidence in the verse for the establishment of the obligation of brotherhood among Muslims because the conjunction 'but' normally occurs to inform about something that is not unknown to the addressee and something whose correctness one is not able to deny, or something of the same status." [End of quote]
Ar-Raazi said in his Tafseer: "The conjunction ‘but’ is used for exclusion, meaning that brotherhood is exclusive to the believers. But as regards between a believer and a non-believer, then no, because Islam is what brings the believers together in brotherhood. It is for this reason that if a Muslim dies while he has a non-Muslim brother, his property belongs to the Muslims and not his non-Muslim brother, and if the non-Muslim dies, it is the same thing (i.e. the Muslim does not inherit from him).” [End of quote]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "The relationship of the believer with another believer is like (the bricks of) a building, each strengthens the other." He illustrated this by interlacing the fingers of both his hands. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, also said: "The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the parts suffers, the whole body responds to it with sleeplessness and fever." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
When Mu‘aawiyah ibn Haydah 
asked the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: "With what did your Lord send you to us?" The Prophet replied: "With Islam." He said: "And what are the signs of Islam?" He replied: "It is for you to say: I submit myself to Allaah, The Exalted , The Glorified, and I declare myself free from disbelief and polytheism, and for you to perform the prayer and pay the Zakah. The blood, honor and wealth of a Muslim are forbidden to another Muslim; they should be (like) two brothers supporting each other." [An-Nasaa'i and Ahmad - Al-Albaani classified it a Hasan (good)]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, characterized the Muslim brother with the virtue of relieving his fellow Muslim from distress and fulfilling his need; the Prophet said: "Whoever relieves a believer of a difficulty of this world, Allaah will relieve him of a difficulty of the Day of Judgment, and whoever brings his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allaah will bring him out of the discomfort of this worldly life and that of the Hereafter, and whoever conceals the sins of a Muslim, Allaah will conceal his sins in this worldly life and on the Day of Resurrection, and Allaah is in the aid of a believer as long as he is in the aid of his brother." [Muslim]
An-Nawawi said: "The meaning of 'relieving someone of distress' means removing it; and the Hadeeth indicates the virtue of fulfilling the needs of Muslims and providing them with knowledge or wealth or assistance, or advising them of something useful and so forth." [End of quote]
Allaah Knows best.
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