a group among those who reject analogical reasoning (1), as well as some who do not reject it. Likewise, the benefits, wise purposes, and beneficial ends for His servants contained in His creation are well known.
Those who hold the first view, such as Jahm [ibn Safwān and those who agree with him]—including al-Ash‘arī and those who agree with him (2) among the jurists who follow Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and others—say: “In the Quran, the lām expressing purpose is never used in relation to Allah’s acts; rather, it contains only the lām expressing consequence.”
The majority, however, say: “Rather (3), the lām expressing purpose is used in relation to the acts of Allah Most High [and His rulings] (4).”
Qadi Abū Ya‘lā (5), Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Zāghūnī (6), and others like them among the followers of Ahmad, although they [indeed] (7) hold the first view, also affirm the second in more than one place. The same applies to their counterparts among the jurists [who follow Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, and others] (8).
(1) A, B: “divine decree.”
(2) N, M: “the first [view], such as al-Asharī, Jahm, and those who agree with him.”
(3) “Rather” is omitted from A and B.
(4) “And His rulings” is omitted from N and M.
(5) Abū Yalā Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn al-Farrā was a leading Hanbali scholar, well versed in legal theory and substantive law. He was born in 380 AH and died in 458 AH. See his biography in *Tabaqāt al-Hanābila* by his son, Abū al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Muhammad, 2/193, 230; *Tārīkh Baghdād*, 2/256; *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 4/306–307; *al-Wāfī bi’l-Wafayāt*, 3/7; *al-Alām*, 6/331; and Brockelmann, *GAL*, Supplement, 3/503.
(6) B reads “Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Zafārānī,” which is an error. Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Zāghūnī was Alī ibn Ubayd Allāh ibn Nasr al-Sirrī; there is disagreement over his name. He was born in 455 AH and died in 527 AH. See his biography in Ibn Rajab’s *al-Dhayl*, 1/180–184; *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 4/80–81; and *al-Alām*, 5/124–125.
(7) “Indeed” is added in A and B.
(8) The text between square brackets is omitted from N and M.