for it is not imposed in one particular year. Men and women alike fall under every ruling we have set out above. Any unbeliever who recites, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” merely in jest and with no real desire for Islam, does not thereby enter the faith if he declines it; only the one who freely and willingly seeks Islam—uncoerced—truly becomes Muslim. Whoever moves from one religion of unbelief to another remains liable to pay the jizya exactly as before. As for captives taken from peoples who are not of the Book—whether Zoroastrian, Sicilian, Turk, Indian, Daylamite, Berber, Barghwati, or any other people without scripture—all of them, adult and child, are compelled to embrace Islam. Jews and Christians are barred from purchasing such captives, and none of their women may be approached sexually until she has accepted Islam and has been taught the basics in a manner that assures her understanding.

Ibn al-Qasim said that if a treaty-holder withholds the jizya, war is waged against him; once he is overpowered he becomes booty. Ashhab, however, held that he is restored to his dhimma. There is a divergence on this issue reported from Mālik, yet the sound opinion is the one I have just related to you, and it is the view practised by his companions.

Mālik—may Allah have mercy on him—considered that the people of deviant sects should be asked to repent, and he specified the Qadariyya and the Ibāḍīs in this regard. This was also the position of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, though later Mālikīs disagreed about it. Ibn Wahb said: “I heard al-Layth ibn Saʿd say, ‘One who denies predestination is not someone whose illness we visit, whose funeral we are eager to attend, or whose invitation we accept.’ Mālik said the same to me.”