Or chooseth He daughters of all that He hath created, and honoureth He you with sons? 16 And if one of them is informed of the news of (the birth of) that which he set forth as a parable to the Most Beneficent (Allah) (i.e. of a girl), his face becomes dark, gloomy, and he is filled with grief! 17 Does God choose for Himself the kind of children who grow up wearing ornaments and who are not strong enough to defend their rights? 18 And they make the angels-- them who are the servants of the Beneficent Allah-- female (divinities). What! did they witness their creation? Their evidence shall be written down and they shall be questioned. 19 They say, "If the All Merciful had so willed, we would not have worshipped them." They have no knowledge of that. They are only conjecturing. 20 Had We, before sending the Quran, given them a book to which they now refer as an authority? 21 Nay, but they say, 'We found our fathers upon a community, and we are guided upon their traces.' 22 Even so We sent never before thee any warner into any city, except that its men who lived at ease said, 'We indeed found our fathers upon a community, and we are following upon their traces.' 23 ۞ "Even if I bring you a better guidance," he rejoined, "than the one you found your fathers on?" Still they said: "We do not believe in what you have brought." 24 So We inflicted retribution on them, then see how was the end of the rejecters. 25