What is secret charity?
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The questioner : We return to the message from the questioner Ahmad, who says: Tell us about secret charity. What is it, O honorable Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Secret charity is when a person gives charity to those who are entitled to it in secret, so that no one becomes aware of it. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has praised those who spend their wealth in secret and in public. He began with the secret, which indicates that the original state for what is spent and given as charity is that it be done in secret. However, sometimes publicizing it is better, such as when the spending is for a general cause. In that case, announcing it is better so that the person becomes a role model for people to follow, to ward off blame from himself, and because there is no harm in announcing it. This is unlike one who gives charity to a specific individual, for announcing the charity to him may break his heart and humiliate him.
So the important point is that spending and charity can be done in secret or in public, and the secret is better unless there is a benefit in publicizing it. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Secret charity is when a person gives charity to those who are entitled to it in secret, so that no one becomes aware of it. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has praised those who spend their wealth in secret and in public. He began with the secret, which indicates that the original state for what is spent and given as charity is that it be done in secret. However, sometimes publicizing it is better, such as when the spending is for a general cause. In that case, announcing it is better so that the person becomes a role model for people to follow, to ward off blame from himself, and because there is no harm in announcing it. This is unlike one who gives charity to a specific individual, for announcing the charity to him may break his heart and humiliate him.
So the important point is that spending and charity can be done in secret or in public, and the secret is better unless there is a benefit in publicizing it. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.