(… 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!)”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou