8إِنّا جَعَلنا في أَعناقِهِم أَغلالًا فَهِيَ إِلَى الأَذقانِ فَهُم مُقمَحونَMuhammad AsadBehold, around their necks We have put shackles,1 reaching up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up;2Zamakhshari: "[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.