ablution; for a polytheist is impure, and neither his ablution nor his prostration is valid until he embraces Islam.”

The response is:

This argument is weak, for those people prostrated only when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited:

“Do you then marvel at this revelation,
and laugh and do not weep,
while you remain heedless?
So prostrate to Allah and worship Him.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and those with him prostrated in obedience to this command, namely, to prostrate to Allah. The polytheists followed him in prostrating to Allah.

As for the account mentioned concerning the recitation, if it is authentic, it was what prompted them to join him in prostrating to Allah. Thus, when this happened and news of it reached the Muslims in Abyssinia, a group of them returned to Mecca. The polytheists did not reject worshipping and glorifying Allah; rather, they worshipped other gods alongside Him, as Allah has told us about them. This prostration was therefore part of their worship of Allah. The report states: “The Muslims, polytheists, jinn and humans prostrated with him.”

As for his statement that no prostration is valid until one embraces Islam, a disbeliever’s prostration is comparable to his supplicating to Allah and remembering Him, to his giving charity, and to their performing pilgrimage for Allah while still polytheists. Disbelievers may indeed worship Allah, and they are rewarded in this world for whatever good they do. If they die in disbelief, their deeds come to nothing in the Hereafter; but if they die as believers, will they