Likewise, reason without listening to what the messengers have brought is of no benefit. The people of the Fire acknowledge that the messengers came to them, saying:

“Yes, a warner came to us, but we denied him and said, ‘Allah has sent down nothing.’”

Likewise, those who take heed of the remnants of those who were punished, concerning whom He says:

“Have they not traveled through the land so that they might have hearts with which to understand or ears with which to hear?”

They benefit only when they hear the accounts of those who were punished for denying the messengers and those who were saved for believing them, and thus listen to the messengers’ words and believe them.

The third benefit:

Fear is also a cause of taking heed, as explained above. Each may therefore be a cause of the other. A person may become afraid and consequently take heed; or he may recall frightening things and seek deliverance from them, then recall what he hopes will deliver him and act upon it.

If it is asked:

“Merely thinking that there is something to fear may give rise to fear, so how is it that He says:

‘Among His servants, only those who have knowledge fear Allah’?”

The answer is:

The soul has an overpowering desire from which mere supposition cannot turn it away. Only knowledge that punishment will inevitably occur can turn it away. As for someone who thinks that punishment will occur but has no certainty of it, he will not abandon his desire. Hence He says:

“But as for the one who feared standing before his Lord and restrained his soul from desire.”