Fath al-Rabbani

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ubayy ibn Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) that regarding this verse {وَلَنُذِیْقَنَّہُمْ مِّنَ الْعَذَابِ الْاَدْنٰی دُوْنَ الْعَذَابِ الْاَکْبَرِ لَعَلَّہُمْ یَرْجِعُوْنَ۔} … "And surely We will make them taste the nearer punishment before the greater punishment, so that they may return," what is meant are various calamities: the smoke, the seizure, the affliction—all of these have already passed.