Accordingly, showing altruism in matters that the Sacred Law has made obligatory is forbidden and unlawful, for it inevitably leads to dropping a duty that rests upon you.

The second category, which is either disliked or merely permissible, is altruism in recommended acts. Some scholars regarded it as reprehensible, others allowed it, yet unquestionably the safer course is to leave it unless some clear benefit is involved.

A case in point is yielding your place in the first row of the congregational prayer. You are already standing in the front row; a newcomer arrives and you step back so that he may take your spot. The scholars have censured this, saying that it indicates a person’s reluctance to seize a virtuous opportunity, and such reluctance is blameworthy. After all, how can you advance someone to a superior position when you have a stronger claim to it than he does?

Some jurists, however, held that abstaining from such altruism is merely preferable—unless a tangible interest requires it, as when the newcomer is your father and you fear that his heart will be pained if you do not step aside. In that situation there is no harm in giving him your distinguished place.

The third category is the permissible type of altruism, and it may even be recommended. This is to prefer another over yourself in matters that are not acts of worship—that is, in worldly affairs. Suppose you and a companion are both hungry and there is only enough food for one of you. If you choose to let him eat instead, you are praised for that altruism, for Allah—Most High—describes the Helpers in these words: “Those who settled in the city and embraced faith before them love those who emigrated to them; they find no desire in their hearts for what has been given to them, and they give preference to others over themselves…” (al-Hashr 59:9).