AND WHENEVER thy Sustainer brings forth their offspring from the loins of the children of Adam, He [thus] calls upon them to bear witness about themselves: "Am I not your Sustainer?" - to which they answer: "Yea, indeed, we do bear witness thereto!" [Of this We remind you,] lest you say on the Day of Resurrection, "Verily, we were unaware of this"; 172 Or [lest] you say, "It was only that our fathers associated [others in worship] with Allah before, and we were but descendants after them. Then would You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?" 173 And thus do We make clear the communications, and that haply they might return. 174 Relate to them the plight of the man whom We gave Our signs, but he passed them by, so that Satan came after him, and he went astray. 175 Now had We so willed, We could indeed have exalted him by means of those [messages]: but he always clung to the earth and followed but his own desires. Thus, his parable is that of an [excited] dog: if thou approach him threateningly, he will pant with his tongue lolling; and if thou leave him alone, he will pant with his tongue lolling. Such is the parable of those who are bent on giving the lie to Our messages. Tell [them,] then, this story, so that they might take thought. 176 An evil likeness is the likeness of the people who cried lies to Our signs, and themselves were wronging. 177 He whom God guides, he alone is truly guided; whereas those whom He lets go astray - it is they, they who are the losers! 178 And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless. 179 All the names of God are beautiful, so call Him by them; and leave those alone who act profanely towards His names: They will be retributed for their deeds. 180 And of those whom We have created there is a party who guide men through the truth and act justly according to it. 181