[The Fifth Proof that it is forbidden to kill a non-Muslim merely for his unbelief]

Furthermore, had unbelief itself warranted execution, it would never have been permissible to allow a disbeliever to remain under the jizyah and the condition of subjugation, for by doing so he has not abandoned his unbelief. Hence, because apostasy does in fact necessitate the death penalty, an apostate may not be spared by accepting jizyah and humiliation from him.

With this, the reply becomes evident to the objection leveled by one of the heretics—said to have been Ibn al-Rawandī (1)—concerning the Almighty’s words: “And they say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’ You have indeed come with an outrageous claim…,” up to His statement, “And every one of them will come to Him on the Day of Resurrection all alone.” The heretic quipped, “All of this vanishes if he pays a single dinar each year, or something of the sort!”

The answer to this unbeliever is that the jizyah and the state of subjugation were never intended as a recompense for his unbelief; rather