AAutullin baAAda thalika zaneem (surah Qalam: 13)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(68:13) the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; *9

Utullim ba`da zaalika zaneem

*9) The word zanim is used to describe a person of illegitimate birth, who does not, in fact, belong to a family but has joined it. Sa`id bin Jubair and Sha`bi say that this word is used for a person who is notorious among the people for his evildoing. The views of the commentators with regard to the person who has been described in these verses are different. Some one says it was Walid bin Mughirah; another one says it was Aswad bin `Abd-i Yaghuth, and still another has applied this description to Akhnas bin Shurayq, and some other people have pointed to some other persons. But the Qur'an has only described his attributes without naming him. This shows that in Makkah the man concerned was so notorious for his such qualities that there was no need to name him definitely. Hearing his description every person could understand who was being referred to.