an extraordinary act through a God-reliant will, outside the station of challenge
Distinguish from
muʿjiza (miracle) — within the station of challenge the same effect is a miracle; outside it, a karāma.
khāriq al-ʿāda (extraordinary act) — khāriq al-ʿāda is the class; karāma is the kind wrought through a God-reliant will outside challenge.
General Technical Meaning
A karāma is the manifestation of an extraordinary act by a person unaccompanied by a claim of prophethood; joined to a claim of prophethood the act is a miracle, and without faith and righteous action it is istidrāj.
In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works
Risālat al-Manāmāt wa-l-Nubuwwāt
saintly wonder — use in context
In al-Manāmāt the technical term karāma appears for the states of the perfected felicitous, reported as 'the karāma reserved for its people' in one received classification, contrasted with a conjurer's illusion in another.
Limits of this account
The classification is reported as others' view; this use attests the technical register here but does not by itself define karāma in the author's voice.
al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān
saintly wonder — explanation
Karāma is directly characterized within the author-endorsed taxonomy: an extraordinary effect wrought through the God-reliant will (that of prophets and friends of God) when realized outside the station of challenge; the same effect in the station of challenge is named a miracle, and with supplication an answered prayer.
Limits of this account
It does not equate karāma with the miracle, does not supply a complete taxonomy of saintly states, and does not by itself settle the neighbouring category of soothsaying (kihāna).
Read in context
Open a passage in the edition where this term is linked.