“Those”—that is, these verses—“are the verses of the clear Book.”

“Perhaps you would destroy yourself with grief because they will not believe. If We willed, We could send down upon them a sign from heaven, before which their necks would remain humbled.” (3–4)

“Perhaps you would destroy yourself”—that is, kill yourself—“because they will not believe,” meaning: if they do not believe. This was when the people of Mecca called him a liar, and that weighed heavily upon him, for he was eager for them to believe. So Allah revealed this verse. “If We willed, We could send down upon them a sign from heaven, before which their necks would remain humbled.” Qatadah said: “Had Allah willed, He would have sent down upon them a sign by which they would be humbled, such that none of them could turn his neck toward disobedience to Allah.” Ibn Jurayj said: “Its meaning is: had Allah willed, He would have shown them a matter from among His signs after which none of them would commit an act of disobedience.”

As for His words, exalted is He, “humbled,” rather than using the feminine form, although it describes “necks,” there are several explanations. One is that He meant the owners of the necks. The owners were omitted and the necks were put in their place, since when the necks submit, their owners are submissive. Thus, the verb was first ascribed to the necks, then “humbled” was made to refer to the men. Al-Akhfash said: The submission is referred back to the implicit pronoun to which the necks are annexed. Others said that the masculine form of the adjective was used because of its proximity to the masculine pronoun—namely, “their”—in accordance with the Arabs’ practice of using the masculine for a feminine noun when it is annexed to a masculine, and the feminine for a masculine noun when it is annexed to a feminine.

It was also said that He meant: “So they remained humbled,” using “neck” to refer to the entire body, as in His words: “That is because of what your hands have sent forth” (22:10), and, “We have fastened every person’s fate to his neck” (17:13). Mujahid said: By “necks” He meant the leaders and eminent figures; that is, their leading men would remain humbled. It was also said that “necks” means groups, as one says: “The people came neck by neck,” meaning, in groups and parties. And it was said that “humbled” was used in conformity with the ends of the verses, so that they would follow a single pattern. (1)