In this paper we have analyzed the combined effects of magnetic field and convective diffusion of species through a non-Darcy porous medium over a vertical stretching sheet with temperature dependent viscosity and non-uniform heat source/sink. The boundary layer equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations using self-similarity transformation which are then solved numerically using fifth-order Runge–Kutta Fehlberg method with shooting technique for various values of the governing parameters. The effects of electric field parameter, non-uniform heat source/sink parameters and Schmidt number on concentration profiles are analyzed and discussed graphically. Favorable comparisons with previously published work on various special cases of the problem are obtained.