God Almighty said: {Indeed, among your wives and your children are enemies to you, so beware of them} 1 , and He said: {Your wealth and your children are but a trial, and Allah has with Him a great reward} 2 . Thus, He encouraged that which endures, made that which vanishes a trial for them, and commanded them to be cautious.
Whenever they committed a matter He forbade them from, punishments, blights, and the opposition of affliction in the form of various ailments came upon them. Whenever they did not uphold the obedience God commanded, types of torment came to them—that which He promised them of metamorphosis (Maskh), swallowing by the earth (Khasf), falling of fragments (Kasf), and pelting (Qadhf). Just as torment has never ceased to descend upon them and upon those among them who dissented; among them were those overtaken by the Flood, and among them were those overtaken by the blast (Rajfa), and among them were those metamorphosed into despised and losing apes. This and its like are of the punishment of the Hereafter, and it is as the Almighty said: {And We will surely let them taste the nearer punishment short of the greater punishment that perhaps they will return} 3 , until His words: {But if they were returned, they would certainly revert to that which they were forbidden} 4 .