Surah 36. Yasin, Ayah 8

Zamakhshari: "[This is] an allegory of their deliberate denial of the truth." See note [13] on 13:5 and note [44] on 34:33 .

Sc., "and they cannot see the right way" (Razi); their "forced-up heads" symbolize also their arrogance. On the other hand, God's "placing shackles" around the sinners' necks is a metaphor similar to His "sealing their hearts and their hearing", spoken of in 2:7 and explained in the corresponding note [7]. The same applies to the metaphor of the "barriers" and the "veiling" mentioned in the next verse.

Man's misdeeds inevitably call forth the operation of Allah's Law. The result of man's wilful disobedience is now described in a series of metaphors. (1) Refusal of Allah's Light means less and less freedom of action for man: the yoke of sin is fastened round man's neck, and it gets more and more tightened, right up to the chin. (2) The head is forced up and kept in a stiff position, so that the mind becomes befogged. Moral obliquity taints the intellect. According to the Sanskrit proverb, "When destruction comes near, understanding is turned upside down." According to the Latin proverb, "Whom God wishes to destroy, He first makes demented." In other words, iniquity not only is folly, but leads deeper and deeper into folly, narrowness of vision, and blindness to the finer things of life. (3) This state of deprivation of Grace leads to such a decline in spiritual vitality that the victim can neither progress nor turn back, as explained in the next verse.