It is recorded in the Sahih from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“When the words of Allah Most High were revealed:

‘Say: He has power to send punishment upon you from above you’

[Surah al-Anām: 65],

the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘I seek refuge in Your Face.’

(1 ‘Or from beneath your feet,’

the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘I seek refuge in Your Face.’ 1) (1)

‘Or to divide you into factions and make some of you taste the violence of others,’

he said, ‘This is milder and easier’” (2).

This is something that must inevitably befall the Ummah as a whole. The Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—experienced fewer tribulations than all those who came after them, for the farther an age was from the time of Prophethood, the more division and disagreement increased (3).

For this reason, no manifest religious innovation arose during the caliphate of Uthmān. When he was killed and the people became divided, two opposing innovations arose: the innovation of the Khawārij, who declared Ali an unbeliever, and the innovation of the Rāfidah, who claimed his imamate and infallibility—or even his prophethood or divinity.

Then, toward the end of the Companions’ era, during the rule of Ibn al-Zubayr and Abd al-Malik, the innovations of the Murjiah and Qadariyyah arose. Later, at the beginning of the era of the Followers, toward the end of the Umayyad Caliphate, there arose the innovation of the Jahmiyyah, who denied Allah’s attributes, and that of the Mushabbihah, who likened Him to His creation. Nothing of this kind existed during the time of the Companions (4).

The same is true of armed conflicts. Under the rule of Muāwiyah—may Allah be pleased with him—the people were united and waged campaigns against the enemy. When Muāwiyah died, Husayn was killed, Ibn al-Zubayr was besieged in Mecca, and then the conflict of al-Harrah occurred in Medina.