A demonstrative can honor its referent, but the same form can also convey ridicule or irony. The difference is not encoded in «هذا» alone; it is determined by surrounding words and the speaker’s stance.
«هذا الذي ترك الأوهام حائرة وصير العالم النحرير زنديقا»
This is the one who confounded imagination and threw even the most accomplished scholar into bewilderment.
The expression first isolates its subject, then adds an extraordinary description. In another setting, demonstratively pointing out an obvious fact to a negligent hearer might mock the hearer’s failure to notice it.
The rule is contextual: honor, disparagement, and sarcasm depend on the predication, the audience, and the communicative situation.