Or has He taken, out of what He has created, daughters and chosen you for [having] 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 ["Do you ascribe to God] one who is brought up among ornaments and who cannot produce a cogent argument?" 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 ("Ah!") they say, "If it had been the will of (Allah) Most Gracious, we should not have worshipped such (deities)!" Of that they have no knowledge! they do nothing but lie! 20 Or did We bestow upon them a Book before on whose authority they are holding on (to angel-worship)? 21 Nay! they say: We found our fathers on a course, and surely we are guided by 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 ۞ 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 Then We punished them. So look at the fate of those who denied. 25