Has Allah taken for Himself daughters out of those whom He creates and has chosen you to have sons? 16 When any of them is given the news of the very thing [i.e. a female child] which he himself has ascribed to the All Merciful, his face darkens 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 They claim that angels, who are Allah's chosen servants, are females. Did they witness how their body is constituted? Their testimony shall be written and they shall be called to account. 19 They say: “Had the Merciful One so willed, we would never have worshipped these deities.” But they have no knowledge of the matter and are simply conjecturing. 20 What! have We given them a Book before this, to which they are holding fast? 21 Nay! they say: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we do guide ourselves by their footsteps." 22 And thus it is: whenever We sent any warner to a city its affluent ones said: “We found our forefathers on a way and we continue to follow in their footsteps.” 23 ۞ The prophet said, "What! Even if I bring to you a path better than what you found your forefathers following?"; they said, "We do not believe in whatever you have been sent with." 24 So We inflicted retribution on them, then see how was the end of the rejecters. 25