Has God chosen some of His own creatures as daughters for Himself and has given you the preference of having sons? 16 When one of them is given the glad news of the birth of a daughter, which they believe to be the only kind of child that the Beneficent God can have, his face blackens with anger. 17 Can one who has been raised on ornaments and cannot present her case coolly in a dispute (be associated with God?) 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, 'Had the All-merciful so willed, we would not have served them.' They have no knowledge of that; they are only conjecturing. 20 Or have We given them any scripture before (this Qur'an) so that they are holding fast thereto? 21 Nay! they say: verily we have found our fathers on a certain way, and verily by their footsteps we are guided. 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 ۞ [Each warner] said, "Even if I brought you better guidance than that [religion] upon which you found your fathers?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers." 24 And so We inflicted Our retribution on them: and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth! 25