this applies to someone who was a polytheist and then believed, what, then, of someone who belonged to the People of the Book and then believed?

As for His words:

“If he belongs to a people hostile to you, while he is a believer,”

it has been said that this refers to someone who bears the outward appearance of the enemy—for example, by standing in their ranks. The person who kills him is therefore excused, since he is commanded to fight him: no blood money is due from him, but expiation is obligatory. This is the view of al-Shāfiʿī and one of the two opinions reported from Ahmad. It has also been said that this instead refers to someone who embraced Islam but did not emigrate, as Abū Hanīfa maintains. Yet expiation is required here. Another view is that, if he belonged to the enemy people, he would have no heir; his blood money is therefore not given to the enemy people, and only expiation is obligatory. This applies whether he was known to be a believer and was killed by mistake, or was thought to be an unbeliever. This is the apparent meaning of the verse.

Some Quran commentators have said that this verse was revealed concerning ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām and his companions, as reported from Ibn Jurayj, Muqātil, and Ibn Zayd—meaning His words:

“And indeed, among the People of the Book.”

Others have said that it concerns the believers among the People of the Book. This amounts to the first view; if a general meaning is intended, however, it amounts to the second. This is Mujāhid’s view, and Abū Sālih also related it from Ibn ʿAbbās. The view that includes Ibn Salām and others like him within its scope is weak, for these people are believers outwardly and inwardly in every respect. It is not permissible to say of them:

“And indeed