The Sufis speak of . . . — "secret charity." This occurs when you give so that someone benefits from your actions, but . . . that person does not feel given to, nor is there any burden of gratitude. How do you feel, for example, if you find a dollar bill on the sidewalk? You look around and pick it up with a smile on your face. You may feel blessed, or at least lucky. You don't feel that someone "gave it to you" but that you found it. If, however, someone made a practice of laying bills on the ground now and then — then walking away and telling no one — he or she would be practicing a simple form of secret charity.
— James Fadiman, Robert Frager, Essential Sufism by James Fadiman, editor, Robert Frager, editor