and it is the position of Abū ʿAlī ibn Abī Hurayra, [Abū Bakr] al-Qaffāl (1), and others among the followers of al-Shāfiʿī; and [it is the position of] several groups (2) of leading hadith scholars.
They regarded the first position as one of the doctrines of the people of innovation, as Abū Nasr al-Sijzī stated in his well-known treatise on the Sunnah. His associate, Abū al-Qāsim Saʿd ibn ʿAlī al-Zanjānī (3), also mentioned it in his commentary on his well-known ode concerning the Sunnah.
There is a third position on the matter, adopted by al-Rāzī in the last of his works: that good and evil are rationally discernible (4) with respect to the acts (5) of servants, but not the acts of Allah Most High.
The leading scholars of the various schools disagreed concerning things before the coming of revelation. The Hanafīs, along with many Shāfiʿīs and Hanbalīs, held that they are permissible; among them were Ibn Surayj (6), Abū Ishāq al-Marwazī (7), Abū al-Hasan al-Tamīmī, and Abū al-Khattāb.
(1) N reads: “and al-Qaffāl.”
(2) N reads: “and several groups.”
(3) N reads: “Saʿīd ibn ʿAlī,” which is incorrect. Abū al-Qāsim Saʿd ibn ʿAlī ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAlī al-Zanjānī was named after the town of Zanjān, on the outskirts of al-Jibāl between that region and Azerbaijan. He resided in the Meccan Sanctuary and was a trustworthy hadith master and an ascetic. He died either at the beginning of 471 AH or at the end of 470 AH. See *Shadharāt al-Dhahab* (Gold Nuggets), 3/339–340; *Tadhkirat al-Huffāz* (Memorial of Hadith Masters), 3/1174–1178; and *Muʿjam al-Buldān* (Dictionary of Countries), entry “Zanjān.”
(4) N reads: “that good is rationally discerned and [an act is] rationally evil”; A reads: “that good and evil are rationally discernible.”
(5) N reads: “with respect to the act of . . .”
(6) Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad ibn ʿAmr ibn Surayj was the leading authority of the Shāfiʿīs and was known as “the Gray Falcon.” He was born in 249 AH and died in Baghdad in 306 AH. See *Shadharāt al-Dhahab* (Gold Nuggets), 2/247–248; *Tabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyya* (Biographical Classes of the Shāfiʿīs), 3/21–39; *Wafayāt al-Aʿyān* (Deaths of Eminent Men), 1/49–51; and *al-Aʿlām* (Notable Figures), 1/178–179.
(7) Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm ibn Ahmad al-Marwazī, a disciple of Ibn Surayj, became the foremost authority of the Shāfiʿī school in Baghdad. He died in Egypt in 340 AH. See *Shadharāt al-Dhahab* (Gold Nuggets), 2/355–356; *Wafayāt al-Aʿyān* (Deaths of Eminent Men), 1/7–8; and *al-Aʿlām* (Notable Figures), 1/22–23.