Fath al-Rabbani

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ubayy ibn Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) that Allah Almighty said: {قُلْ ہُوَ الْقَادِرُ عَلٰٓی اَنْ یَّبْعَثَ عَلَیْکُمْ عَذَابًا مِّنْ فَوْقِکُمْ اَوْ مِنْ تَحْتِ اَرْجُلِکُمْ اَوْ یَلْبِسَکُمْ شِیَعًا وَّیُذِیْقَ بَعْضَکُمْ بَاْسَ بَعْضٍ اُنْظُرْ کَیْفَ نُصَرِّفُ الْاٰیٰتِ لَعَلَّہُمْ یَفْقَہُوْنَ۔} … Say, "He is able to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, or to confuse you in sects and make you taste the violence of one another." See how We explain the signs in various ways so that they may understand. Then Sayyiduna Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) said: These are four matters, all four are forms of punishment, all are bound to occur, in fact, they occurred twenty-five years after the passing of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), one is that people were divided into sects, and the second is that they made each other taste punishment, the remaining two are also bound to occur, and they are: sinking into the earth and the raining of stones.