among the People of the Book are those who believe in Allah and in what was revealed to you and what was revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah. They do not exchange Allah’s verses for a small price. Those will have their reward with their Lord. Indeed, Allah is swift in reckoning.”

First, Ibn Salām embraced Islam as soon as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived in Medina. He said: “When I saw his face, I knew that his was not the face of a liar.” The passage concerning the People of the Book in Surah Āl ʿImrān, however, was only revealed when the delegation from Najrān arrived in the year 9 or 10 AH.

Second, Ibn Salām and others like him belong to the ranks of the Companions and believers, and he is among the best of them. The same applies to Salmān al-Fārisī: he is not described as belonging to the People of the Book.

These people have rewards like those of the other believers; indeed, they are given their reward twice over. They observe all the ordinances of Islam, so their reward is greater than is conveyed by saying:

“Those will have their reward with their Lord.”

Moreover, their circumstances were plain and well known, and no one had any doubts about them. What benefit, then, would there be in making such a statement about them?

This would be no different from saying: “People who were polytheists or belonged to the People of the Book have entered Islam.” Everyone knows this, since Islam is a religion that was not known before Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Thus, everyone who entered it had previously been either a polytheist or one of the People of the Book—either a person of the Book or