2/271-274 — Secret or open
"If you give alms openly, how good it is; but if you hide it and give it to the poor, that is better for you."
Both options are counted legitimate — one is called "how good", the other "better". No prohibition is laid down; a degree is given.
It is transmitted that in the classical commentaries open giving is explained in respect of its encouraging others, and secret giving in respect of preserving the dignity of the recipient.
لِلْفُقَرَآءِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ — verse 273 describes those to whom it is to be given, and the description is striking:
يَحْسَبُهُمُ ٱلْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَآءَ مِنَ ٱلتَّعَفُّفِ تَعْرِفُهُم بِسِيمَٰهُمْ لَا يَسْـَٔلُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ إِلْحَافًا
"One who does not know thinks them rich, because they refrain from asking. You will know them by their marks. They do not ask people insistently."
تَعَفُّف — root ع-ف-ف: to hold back one's hand, to abstain. إِلْحَاف — root ل-ح-ف: to wrap oneself in a covering; from this, "to cling and not let go, to insist".
The description defines the needy not by his asking but by his not asking. I record this as an observation: the address of help is shown to be not the one who raises his voice most but the one who does not raise it at all. And this lays a burden on the giving side: he is obliged to search.
تَعْرِفُهُم بِسِيمَٰهُمْ — "you will know them by their marks". To know them, that is, requires not an investigation but an attentiveness.