In pride, talking evil about it by night.refers to the arrogant pride which the Quraysh felt because they believed themselves to be the guardians of the Ka`bah, when in fact this was not the case.As An-Nasa'i said in his Tafsir of this Ayah in his Sunan:Ahmad bin Sulayman told us that Ubaydullah told us from Isra`il, from Abdul-A`la that he heard Sa`id bin Jubayr narrating that Ibn Abbas said,"Talking by late night became disapproved of when this Ayah was revealed:مُسْتَكْبِرِينَ بِهِ سَامِرًا تَهْجُرُونَIn pride, talking evil about it by night. He said, "They boasted about the Ka`bah and said, `We are its people who stay up talking at night.' They used to boast and stay up and talk at night around the Ka`bah. They did not use it for the proper purpose, and so in effect they had abandoned it."