"Taste it," (they will be told). "You were indeed the mighty and noble!
49
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : ((saying): taste) o abu jahl! (lo! thou wast forsooth the mighty) among your own folk, (the noble) in their midst! and it is also said that this means: you were the mighty who felt powerful through your own folk, the noble who was magnanimous with them!
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and it will be said to him: ‘taste!, that is, [taste] the chastisement. indeed you are the mighty, the noble one!, as you claimed when you used to say, ‘there is nothing between its two mountains [sc. mecca] that is mightier or nobler than me!’
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (… taste! lo! thou wast forsooth the mighty, the noble!) [44:49].
qatadah said: “this verse was revealed about the enemy of allah, abu jahl, who protested: ‘is muhammad threatening me? by allah, i am the mightiest man between its two mountains [mecca’s two mountains]’, and so allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.
abu bakr al-harithi informed us> ‘abd allah ibn muhammad ibn hayyan> abu yahya al-razi> sahl ibn ‘uthman> asbat> abu bakr al-hudhali> ‘ikrimah who said: “one day, the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, met abu jahl. the latter said to him: ‘you know that i am of the most powerful people on earth, and that i am the mighty, the noble!’ allah, exalted is he, killed him at the battle of badr, humiliated him and reviled him, using his own words. this verse was revealed about him (taste! lo! thou wast forsooth the mighty, the noble!)”.
