Surah 72. Al-Jinn, Ayah 19

Lit., "would almost be upon him in crowds (libad, sing. libdah)" - i.e., with a view to "extinguishing God's [guiding] light" (Tabari, evidently alluding to 9:32 ). Most of the commentators assume that the above verse refers to the Prophet Muhammad and the hostility shown to him by his pagan contemporaries. While this may have been so in the first instance, it is obvious that the passage has a general import as well, alluding to the hostility shown by the majority of people, at all times and in all societies, to a minority or an individual who stands up for a self-evident - but unpopular - moral truth. (In order to be understood fully, the above verse should be read in conjunction with {19:73-74} and the corresponding notes.

 i.e., Muḥammad (ﷺ).

The Devotee of Allah: the holy Prophet Muhammad.

They. The immediate reference was to the Pagan Quraish who were then in possession of the Ka'ba and who put all sorts of obstacles and indignities in the way of the holy Prophet for preaching the One True God and denouncing idol-worship. They used to surround him and mob him and to treat him as if he was guilty of some dreadful crime. But the wider application refers to the habit of the world to make a marked man of any who diverges from the beaten paths of their favourite sins and who pleads earnestly for the cause of Truth and righteousness. They ridicule him; they surround him with jeers and obloquy; and they try to make the physical condition of his life as difficult for him as possible.