48وَما نُريهِم مِن آيَةٍ إِلّا هِيَ أَكبَرُ مِن أُختِها ۖ وَأَخَذناهُم بِالعَذابِ لَعَلَّهُم يَرجِعونَMuhammad Asadalthough each sign that We showed them was weightier than the preceding one: and [each time] We took them to task through suffering, so that they might return [to Us].1The concept of "returning" to God implies that the instinctive ability to perceive His existence is inherent in human nature as such, and that man's "turning away" from God is only a consequence of spiritual degeneration, and not an original tendency or predisposition: cf. 7:172-173.- The "suffering" ('adhab) mentioned above relates to the plagues with which the recalcitrant Egyptians were struck (see 7:130 ff.).