Allah the Exalted also says: “Let those who oppose his command beware, lest a trial befall them or a painful punishment overtake them.” (Quran 24:63)

[Commentary]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cites the verse: “Let those who oppose his command beware, lest a trial befall them or a painful punishment overtake them.” (Quran 24:63). Here Allah warns those who turn away from the Messenger’s order—that is, they disdain it and therefore disobey it. For this reason the wording is “oppose his command” (yukhālifūna ʿan amrihi) rather than simply “oppose his command” (yukhālifūna amrahu); the added particle conveys aversion, a deliberate turning away that leads to disobedience. Such people are threatened that a fitnah (trial) may strike them, or that a painful punishment may seize them.

Imam Aḥmad said, “Do you know what the fitnah is? It is shirk (polytheism). Perhaps when someone rejects part of the Prophet’s statement, a deviation settles in his heart and he is ruined—Allah’s refuge is sought.” In other words, if a person dismisses anything the Messenger ﷺ has said, a seed of deviation may lodge in his heart and destroy him. This destruction is not merely bodily but religious, and religious ruin is far graver than physical death. Every creature will eventually die, whether its life span is long or short, but religious ruin is a loss in both this world and the Hereafter—Allah protect us.

His words “or a painful punishment overtake them” mean that they may be punished even before the fitnah descends. We ask Allah for well-being. The verse therefore establishes the obligation of accepting the Prophet’s command, and that whoever turns away from it is threatened with this punishment: “that a trial may befall them or a painful punishment overtake them.”