To pay zakât is to do Allah’s command. But alms and favours are mostly intended to earn fame, reverence and the sensual desires of the nafs. When one does the fard, hypocrisy or ostentation do not get mixed with the action. But there is a lot of ostentation in supererogatory worships. It is for this reason that zakât should be paid publicly. Thereby one will be safe from being slandered. The supererogatory alms should be given secretly, which will increase the probability that it will be accepted (by Allah). In short, to be safe from the harm of the world, there is no other way than holding fast to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. Those who cannot cease from worldly pleasures completely should abandon them at least supposedly; in other words, they should think of themselves as having forsaken the world. And for doing this, one should adapt one’s every action and each word to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya.
