Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:4
If We willed, We could send down to them from the sky a sign for which their necks would remain humbled.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The people of interpretation differed over the explanation of His statement: فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَاقُهُمْ... the verse. Some of them said: its meaning is: the people before whom a sign is sent down from heaven will, during that day, be subdued, with their necks bowed because of the humiliation it brings.
Mention of those who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَاقُهُمْ لَهَا خَاضِعِينَ — he said: during that day they are present with their necks bowed before it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement خَاضِعِينَ — he said: had Allah willed, He would have sent down a sign from heaven by which they would be humbled, so that no one would turn his neck any longer in disobedience to Allah.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — concerning أَلَّا يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ إِنْ نَشَأْ نُنَزِّلْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ آيَةً: had Allah willed, He would have shown them a matter of His matters after which not one of them would commit a deed of disobedience any longer.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my paternal uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَاقُهُمْ لَهَا خَاضِعِينَ — he said: with necks laid down.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَاقُهُمْ لَهَا خَاضِعِينَ — he said: the khāḍiʿ (the submissive one) is the humbled one.
Others said: no, the meaning of this is that the leaders and great ones of the people are subdued before the sign; and they say that al-aʿnāq (the necks) are the great ones among the people.
The grammarians differed over the reason that khāḍiʿīn (submissive ones) is in the masculine plural form, while it is a report concerning al-aʿnāq (the necks, feminine plural). Some grammarians of Baṣra held: it is claimed that al-aʿnāq here are the collective plurals in the sense of "a group of people," as one says: "this is a group (ʿunuq) of many people"; or it was made masculine just as some feminine words are made masculine, as the poet said:
"I drank it while the rooster called its morning, when the children of Naʿsh drew near and descended."
For the collectives of this are al-aʿnāq; or it was made masculine because of its annexation to the masculine, just as it is sometimes made feminine because of annexation to the feminine, as al-Aʿshā said:
"And she changes color because of the word you have spread abroad, just as the shaft-plate of the lance changes color from blood."
And al-ʿAjjāj said: "When he saw the back of the sky and it withdrew."
And al-Farazdaq said: "When the little plump black women travel about by day, the fine curtains let down over them."
And al-Aʿshā said: "And if a man brings you a gift while between him and you lie outstretched deserts and uninhabited plains — then she has the fullest right to answer your call and to know that the one who is aided is the one who succeeds."
He said: one says banāt Naʿsh and banū Naʿsh, and one says banāt ʿirs and banū ʿirs; and a woman said: "I am a person (imruʾ) who does not reveal secrets" — he said: and a man was mentioned to Ruʾba about whom he said: "he was one of the banāt masājid Allāh" — meaning thereby the pebbles. And a grammarian of Kūfa said: this is after the likeness of what the poet said:
"You see their lances that they carry, when the iron rusts upon the coats of mail."
The meaning of this in his view is: their necks are submissive, they themselves; just as one says: "your hand, stretch it out," with the meaning: "your hand, you stretch it out," contenting oneself with the noun which was placed as the beginning, so that the governing relation was transferred. Thus the verb became as though it belonged to the first while it belongs to the second. Likewise is His statement "she has the right to answer your call" — that is: she has the right to it, you; and al-maḥqūqa is the she-camel, but he linked it to al-marʾ (the person) because the reference returned to her. Another of their grammarians said: al-aʿnāq are the groups, as one says: "I saw the people going to someone as one group (ʿunuq)" — so that he makes al-aʿnāq the groups and tribes; and he said: it is also possible that al-aʿnāq are the leaders and notable men, so that it is as though it is said: the chiefs of the people and their great ones are submissive before it, as submissive ones. And he said: more beloved to me than these two grammatical explanations is to say: when the necks bow down, then their owners are submissive; so that one first links the verb to the necks, then ascribes the meaning of khāḍiʿīn to the men. This is like the saying of the poet:
"Upon a handful, the back of whose palm is hoped for — neither is the man put to shame, nor does he eat."
For he gave the verb the feminine form for "the back," because the hand encompasses the back and suffices for it; just as you suffice by saying "I am submissive to you" instead of "my neck is submissive to you." And he said: do you not see that the Arabs say "every eye looks at you" and "every eye looks at you," for "she looked at you, my eye" and "I looked at you" mean the same through the omission of "every," and the governing relation for it is brought back to the eye, so that if you were to say "their necks are submissive before it," that too would be correct.
Abū Jaʿfar said: the most correct of these views and the most resembling what the people of interpretation said about this is that al-aʿnāq are the necks of the men, and that the meaning of the statement is: their necks are humbled before the sign that Allah sends down upon them from heaven, and that His statement "as submissive ones" is in the masculine plural form because it is the report concerning the hāʾ and mīm in al-aʿnāqihim — so that this is the parallel of the saying of Jarīr:
"I see the passing of the years taking something from me, just as the last night of the month takes something from the new moon."
This is so because his statement "the passing" — were they to be omitted from the saying — that which remains of the sentence would convey it without the omission harming the meaning. Likewise: were the necks to be omitted from His statement "their necks remained bowed," that which remains of the sentence would equally convey the same, for when the men are humbled their necks are humbled, and when their necks are humbled they are humbled. Thus the report of submissiveness was transferred onto the owners of the necks, even though the necks had been mentioned earlier, because in the usage of the Arabs in their speech this is how it goes when the initial noun and that to which it is annexed each substitute for the other in the report. And were one to say "they remained submissive before it" with the omission of al-aʿnāq, the statement would not be erroneous and its meaning would not change from what it was before the omission. Thus the report of submissiveness was transferred to the owners of the necks, even though the start was made with the necks, in accordance with what is established in the usage of the Arabs.
