The Treatise on Rights by Imam Zain al Abidin (A.S) -12

12. Rights of Sadaqa

"The right of alms (sadaqa) is that you know it is a storing away with your Lord and a deposit for which you will have no need for witness. If you deposit it in secret, you will be more confident of it than if you deposit it in public. You should know that it repels afflictions and illnesses from you in this world and it will repel the Fire from you in the next world. 

There is no strength save in Allah." The Ima`m, peace be on him, underlined the importance of alms and regarded it as a storing away for the alms-giver with Allah. One gives alms for himself, for he will find it present with Allah on the day when neither property nor children profit him. 

Also the Ima`m, peace be on him, stressed the importance of giving alms in secret, and that it should be free from reminding someone of it, for it is, in fact, belongs to him, so how does he remind the others of it? As secret alms was important, the Ima`m maintained a hundred families in Medina (Yathrib), while they did not recognize him who maintained them. We mentioned this in the previous chapters.

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