It is only to the extent that one is made privy to it. This, then, is the knowledge of the awliyāʾ (walī / awliyāʾ; friend[s] of God). They learn the wondrous properties that Allah has placed in the letters and names which affect things in the realms of ḥaqīqa (inner reality) and ḥayāl (imagination). Although this is, in the absolute sense, something blameworthy, when it is limited and restricted it becomes something praiseworthy. This is what is called karāma (a saintly wonder) and the extraordinary. However, even though extraordinary things may issue from them, these are not called magic. These are called karāma. According to the scholars, this is itself magic. The magicians of Prophet Mūsā (Moses) continued in the knowledge of magic even after believing in the Lord of Mūsā and Hārūn, entering Allah's religion, and preferring the Hereafter to the dunya (this world). Although they knew magic, they accepted the punishment from Allah at the hand of Pharaoh. According to us, the science of alchemy (ʿilm al-sīmiyāʾ) is derived from the word al-simatu, which means sign. That is, it is the science of the signs produced by the effects of all letters, names, and words. (Futūḥāt, II, 132)
The difference between magic and karāma is as follows: Magic only appears in the fāsiq (open sinner). The shaykh has said: This matter is not something that reason can accept; rather, it is taken from the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the umma. The imām has said: If karāma is not seen in a fāsiq who openly declares his sinfulness, you can never bear witness (shahāda) to his walāya (friendship with God). For if you were to bear witness to him, the possessors of these karāma would be secure from consequences. Therefore, this situation is, by consensus, not permissible regarding the karāma of the walī. (Bustān, 54)
Magic only appears at the hands of disbelievers, heretics, and open sinners. Karāma does not occur among them. Imām al-Ḥaramayn has said: This is not a necessity of reason, but rather knowledge obtained from the consensus of the scholars. (Nabhānī, I, 77)