Majma al-Zawaid 4641 — Which charity is best?

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was seated in a gathering, and the people thought that perhaps revelation was descending upon him. The people did not speak to him at all, until Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) came and sat down beside the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the narrator mentioned the whole hadith, in which, further on, are these words: I said: O Prophet of Allah! What is charity? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Its reward is multiplied many times over, and with Allah Almighty there is still more (reward and recompense). I said: O Prophet of Allah! Which charity is most virtuous? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Giving charity secretly to a poor person, or the charity a person of little means gives through his own effort.
Ahmad recorded it within a long hadith, and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains a narrator, Ali bin Zayd, about whom there is criticism.