Was the prostration of the angels to Adam not real, but rather meant the subjugation of the surrounding forces to him for the cultivation of the Earth, and what is the ruling on one who believes in this saying and propagates it?

The prostration of the angels to Adam was a real prostration and an act of obedience to Allah's command. The Holy Qur'an affirmed this, stating: ﴿So the angels prostrated themselves, all of them together.﴾ Allah informed the angels before creating Adam that He would create him, and He commanded them to prostrate to him as an honor. So, all of them obeyed except Iblis. To say that the angels did not truly prostrate is a denial of revelation, and Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah considered it among the sayings of the philosophical atheists, not among the sayings of Muslims, Jews, or Christians.