Ikhfāʾ
Definition
Ikhfaʾ is the Islamic recommendation to conceal voluntary charitable giving wherever possible, giving secretly rather than publicly to protect the sincerity of the act. Al-Ghazali draws on the Quranic verse that praises those who give in charity secretly, and the prophetic hadith describing the man whose left hand does not know what his right hand gives. The principle is simple: the more an act of generosity is seen by others, the more it risks being corrupted by the desire for praise. The act most pleasing to Allah is the one no one sees but Him.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
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