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Say: 'He has the power to send forth upon you a chastisement from above you, from the heaven, such as stones [cf. Q. 8:32] or a Cry [cf. Q. 11:67], or from beneath your feet, such as the causing of the earth to cave in [cf. Q. 29:40], or to confound you, to confuse you, in parties, sects with differing whims, and to make you taste the violence of one another', through fighting. When this [verse] was revealed, the Prophet "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam" said, 'This [chastisement etc.] is easier and lighter'; but when the last statement was revealed, he said, 'I seek refuge with Your Countenance!', as reported by al-Bukhārī. Muslim reports the [following] hadīth:

'I requested from my Rabb not to make my community violent towards each other, but He denied me this [request]'.

In another hadīth, when it was revealed, he [is reported to have] said, 'As for this, it will surely come to pass, even though its proper meaning has not yet come'. See how We dispense, [how] We clarify for them, the signs, the proofs of Our power, that perhaps they might understand, that they might realise that what they follow is falsehood.