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Fatwa CenterUmayyah Ibn Khalaf Did Not Prostrate along with The Prophet and Others and Died As A Disbeliever
Question
Narrated 'Abdullah:
The Prophet (?) recited Surat-an-Najm and then prostrated himself, and all who were with him prostrated too. But an old man took a handful of dust and touched his forehead with it saying, "This is sufficient for me." Later on I saw him killed as an infidel.
sahih bukhari: 3972
Does this hadith mean that the old man was killed for apostasy? Can you please give a clear context? it seems that the hadith is not clear about what happened.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The man who did not prostrate was Umayyah ibn Khalaf, as explicitly stated in a narration cited by Al-Bukhaari. It is known that he did not embrace Islam but adhered to disbelief until he was killed in the Battle of Badr. In Saheeh Al-Bukhaari, Book of Tafseer, Chapter: {So, prostrate to Allah and worship [Him].} [Quran 53:62], it was narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah 
that he said: “The first Soorah in which a prostration of recitation was revealed was Soorat An-Najm [Quran: 53] The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, prostrated (upon reciting it), and everybody behind him prostrated except a man whom I saw taking a handful of dust in his hand, and he prostrated on it (by placing his forehead on it). Later, I saw that man killed as a disbeliever, and he was Umayyah ibn Khalaf.” [End of quote]
According to what the scholars of Tafseer and commentators of the Hadeeth mentioned, the reason the disbelievers of the Quraysh prostrated along with the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and his Companions when he recited Soorat An-Najm was that it was the first prostration of recitation revealed in the Quran ... and the recitation of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was so impressive and touched the hearts of the listeners. Moreover, the leaders of Quraysh and the stubbornest disbelievers among them were not present then, and those who witnessed this incident were the disbelievers who used to socialize with the Muslims.
Allah Knows best.
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