10وَقالوا لَو كُنّا نَسمَعُ أَو نَعقِلُ ما كُنّا في أَصحابِ السَّعيرِMuhammad AsadAnd they will add: "Had we but listened [to those warnings], or [at least] used our own reason, we would not [now] be among those who are destined for the blazing flame!"1Reason, properly used, must lead man to a cognition of God's existence and, thus, of the fact that a definite plan underlies all His creation. A logical concomitant of that cognition is the realization that certain aspects of the divine plan touching upon human life - in particular, the distinction between right and wrong - are being continuously disclosed to man through the medium of the revelation which God bestows on His chosen message-bearers, the prophets. This innate "bond with God" (referred to in 2:27 and explained in the corresponding note 19) may be broken only at the expense of man's spiritual future, with suffering in the life to come as the inevitable alternative.