“A mujiza (miracle) is an extraordinary event that God creates through a prophet in order to prove his prophethood. A karama (wonder) is likewise an extraordinary event that God creates through a friend of God, as a sign of that person’s sainthood—without that person deliberately intending it. Istidraj (Divine stratagem), however, is a sinister kind of ‘extraordinary’ phenomenon that occurs through someone who has nothing to do with piety, asceticism, sincerity, and the like—indeed, someone who may have no real connection to the metaphysical realm at all.”¹⁾

“… karama … is derived from karam, the root meaning of which is honor, munificence, and bounty. Karama is used to designate extraordinary states, words, acts, and effects displayed by saints through God’s will and creation. To give a more detailed description, the extraordinary states displayed by the Prophets to demonstrate their Prophethood are ‘miracles,’ while such states exhibited by the saints who have succeeded in purifying their souls and refining their hearts in adherence to the true Religion are considered to be ‘wonders.’ Similar extraordinary states and acts can sometimes be witnessed in some people who have no belief in and adherence to the true Religion. But these states and acts are called “gradual perdition,” as they usually cause particularly the unjust, dissolute and sinful people gradually to descend into perdition.

From another viewpoint, a wonder (karama) is an extra miracle like gift of God with which He honors His servants who love and obey Him and whom He loves; it is God’s unusual or exceptional treatment of these servants for following the Prophet. The beloved people of God have divided this treatment into the spiritual karama and the karama that is beyond the normal laws of life and creation:

The spiritual karama or wonder is the sum of perfect belief, good deeds, sound knowledge of God, heartfelt love for God, and perfect devotion to God, the Ultimate Truth. The people of God usually refer to this state, which is a gift from God, when they talk about karama. Profundity in knowledge and efforts to disseminate it, effectiveness in endeavors to guide others, the effort to love God and make others love Him, and the resolution and performance displayed to enable the Muhammadi spirit to blossom throughout the world can also be included as examples of this kind of Divine gift or karama.

As for the wonders that are beyond the normal laws of life and creation, they consist of certain extraordinary performances such as increasing a little food or drink without making any addition, being able to remain hungry for days without eating or drinking anything, covering great distances in a very short time, being present in many places at the same instant, walking on water without sinking, and moving some objects from afar. The devoted people of God have never considered such performances as a virtue, nor have they sought them; if God creates such things in their hands, they try to conceal them. Fearing that such extraordinary performances may be the cause of gradual perdition, the faithful servants at the door of God have turned to God with repentance, penitence, and contrition, scrutinized their sincerity, and renewed their devotion from the heart. Furthermore, some of them have likened such wonders to playthings of children and never attached any importance to them. The respected scholarly saint Ahmad ar-Rifai maintained that such wonders should be kept concealed, and he emphasized following the way of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. Some others with the same approach have regarded wonders such as flying in the air and walking on water as the acts of some animals, and stressed that the main wonder is being able constantly to pursue God’s good pleasure and approval while trying to remain distant from other kinds of extraordinariness. They have prayed, saying, ‘O my God! Favor my ‘secret’ with familiarity of Your Essence, and do not test me as one who is familiar with Your secrets!’ They have preferred to remain shut off from all other kinds of extraordinariness than belief, knowledge of God, and love of God, and they have not even sought spiritual pleasures.

Nevertheless, there may be some sincere ones who view wonder-working as a gift from God and make it a means of praising and thanking Him. However, it is always possible for those who have not yet been able to purify their souls completely to fall into conceit and pride. For this reason, if such a gift and performance, which is regarded as a fruit of nearness to God Almighty, causes one to become distant from God instead, then it must be more prudent to keep one’s heart distant from everything, including spiritual pleasures, other than His approval and good pleasure purely for His sake.”²⁾

“Karama and istidraj are spiritually worlds apart. A karama, like a Prophet’s miracle, is God’s act. And the one granted it knows it is from God; he also knows that God is his Protector and Watcher. His trust in God and his certainty increase. Sometimes, by God’s permission, he is aware of the karamas that occur; sometimes he is not—and this latter is the safer and better case.

Istidraj, by contrast, consists in having certain unseen matters ‘opened up’ and displaying strange feats while remaining in heedlessness. But because the person of istidraj attributes it to himself—relying on his ego and crediting his own power—his self-importance and pride grow so much that he begins to recite, ‘I was only given it because of knowledge I have.’ If, however, such ‘openings’ occur as a result of purifying the self and illuminating the heart, then in the uppermost rank there is no difference between the people of istidraj and the people of karama. Those who have truly reached self-effacement (fana) may also, by God’s permission, be shown unseen realities—but they see them with the faculties of one who is annihilated in God. The difference from istidraj is obvious: the luminous inner reality that appears in them is not confused with the darkness of show-offs.”³⁾

“Bediüzzaman says: ‘This world is a place of service, not a place of wages and reward. The payment for works and services here is in the intermediate realm and the Hereafter; that is where they bear fruit.’ Therefore one should not demand in this world the outcomes of deeds whose fruits belong to the next. If something is granted here, it should be accepted not with smug satisfaction but with sorrowful restraint and caution—because eating the fruits of Paradise in a fleeting worldly form is not wise. Unveilings, karama, and spiritual pleasures are also a kind of ‘wage.’ They should not be expected; and when they are given without being sought, they should be concealed—made a means not for pride and arrogance but for gratitude and deeper servanthood.”⁴⁾

“The sainthood of the Companions is a ‘greater sainthood’ (wilayah kubra) that comes from inheriting Prophethood—without passing through the intermediary route of the Sufi ‘barzakh.’ It goes directly from the outward to the inner reality and looks to the unfolding of divine nearness. Though this path is very short, it is extremely lofty. It has fewer ‘wonders,’ but far more virtues. Unveilings and karama appear less there. And the karama of saints are, for the most part, not something they produce intentionally; an extraordinary event may emerge from them unexpectedly as a divine gift. Most unveilings and karama occur during spiritual journeying—when they pass through the barzakh of the path and, by detaching to some degree from ordinary human preoccupations, become recipients of states that break normal patterns.”⁵⁾

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