Or, has He taken daughters from those He has created for Himself and favored sons for you? 16 And when any of them is given the good tidings of that he has likened to the All-merciful, his face is darkened, and he chokes inwardly. 17 (As such they attribute to Allah) who is brought up among ornaments but when disputes arise are powerless. 18 And they appoint the angels, who are the bondmen of the Most Gracious, as females; were they present at the time of the angels’ creation? Their declaration will be now recorded and they will be questioned. 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 Or have We given them a book before it so that they hold fast to it? 21 Rather, they say, "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are in their footsteps [rightly] guided." 22 And similarly, We sent not a warner before you (O Muhammad SAW) to any town (people) but the luxurious ones among them said: "We found our fathers following a certain way and religion, and we will indeed follow their footsteps." 23 ۞ He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)." 24 So We inflicted retribution on them, then see how was the end of the rejecters. 25