ثُمَّ ذَهَبَ إِلَىٰٓ أَهْلِهِۦ يَتَمَطَّىٰٓ
Summa zahaba ilaaa ahlihee yatamatta
then went off to his people, swaggering.
Yatamaṭṭā pictures a strut, and the grammarians trace it either to al-maṭā, the back, so that he walks with his spine stretched out, or to a verb of stretching whose doubled final letter softened into a vowel. The man goes home to his own household, the audience whose approval he wants, and the swagger is performed for them. Many commentators named him as Abu Jahl, while others read the portrait as open to anyone who fits it.