Secret donation is one of the most outstanding tasks one may do. It is favoured by Almighty Allah because it stands for a pure task that no worldly aim can be mixed with. In view of that, the Holy Imams (as) used to encourage people to practice it and to take it as life style. Imam al-Sadiq (as), as well as the other Holy Imams (as), used to help the poor in dark nights carrying packages on his shoulder containing bread, meat and money.
Nobody could understand until the Imam (as) would pass away. Only then could they understand that it was Imam al-Sadiq (as) who used to carry food and other things to them, because by his death, this custom was interrupted.
Ismail ibn Jabir said: “Abu Abdullah (as) gave me fifty dinars in a pack and told me to pass it to a Hashemite person without letting him know about the source of this donation. I gave that person that pack and he asked about the source of the pack. I informed him that it was from someone who did not want you to know him. He replied, ‘This person has been sending me such money, helping me go on my life, while I have never received anything from Jafar!’”
THE LIFE OF IMAM JAF’AR AL-SADIQ (AS) – BAQIR SHARIF AL-QURASHI