Has God chosen some of His own creatures as daughters for Himself and has given you the preference of having 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 Is then one brought up among trinkets, and unable to give a clear account in a dispute (to be associated with Allah)? 18 And they have made the angels, who are themselves servants of the All-merciful, females. What, did they witness their creation? Their witness 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 Or have We given them a book before it so that they hold fast to it? 21 Rather they said, “We found our forefathers upon a religion, and we are following their footsteps.” 22 And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures would always say: "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!" 23 ۞ [Whereupon each prophet] would say: "Why, even though I bring you guidance better than that which you found your forefathers believing in?" - [to which] the others would reply, "Behold, we deny that there is any truth in [what you claim to be] your messages!" 24 So We took revenge from them – therefore see what sort of fate befell those who denied! 25