Islam or the religion that they were previously on; because we have already permitted them to remain in their first religion, and they have not transferred to one that is better than it, so we permit them to remain in it if they return to it. Furthermore, they are transferring from a religion whose adherents are permitted [to remain in it] to a religion whose adherents are not permitted [to remain], so their return to the former is accepted, just as with an apostate when he returns to Islam. From Ahmad, there is a third narration: that one of three things is accepted from them: Islam, a return to their first religion, or a religion whose adherents are permitted to remain; due to the generality of His saying, the Almighty: {Until they pay the jizyah with willing submission and while they are humbled}. If they transfer to the religion of the People of the Book, and we have said: they are not permitted [to remain], then there are two narrations [in this case]: one is that nothing is accepted from them except Islam, and the other is that nothing is accepted from them except Islam or the religion they were previously on.

Section Two: Regarding the manner of compelling them to leave that which they transferred to. There are two narrations [in this regard]: the first is that they are to be killed if they do not return, whether they are a man or a woman; due to the generality of his saying (peace be upon him): "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." And because they are a dhimmi (protected non-Muslim subject) who has breached the covenant, so they resemble one who has breached it by abandoning the commitment to dhimma status. Is there an opportunity for repentance granted to them? There are two possibilities: one is that they are granted an opportunity for repentance, because they are being pulled back from a false religion to which they transferred, so they are granted an opportunity for repentance, like an apostate. The second is: they are not granted an opportunity for repentance, because they are originally an unbeliever whose killing has been made permissible, so they resemble a harbi (an enemy combatant). According to this, if they hasten and accept Islam, or return to what they are permitted to remain in, their blood is spared; otherwise, they are killed. The second narration from Ahmad is that he said: If a Jew enters into Christianity, I shall return him to Judaism and will not leave him in that which he transferred to. It was said to him: Will you kill him? He said: No, but he shall be struck and imprisoned. He said: If he is a Christian or a Jew and enters into Magianism, it is more severe, because their slaughtered meat is not to be eaten, no woman may be married to him, and he shall not be left until he is returned to it [his previous state]. It was said to him: Will you kill him if he does not return? He said: He is deserving of that. This is an explicit statement that a person of the Book who transfers to another religion among the religions of the People of the Book is not to be killed, but rather coerced through striking and imprisonment.