When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): "Am I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)?"- They said: "Yea! We do testify!" (This), lest ye should say on the Day of Judgment: "Of this we were never mindful": 172 or say, "Our fathers worshipped idols before us and we as their descendants followed them. Would you then destroy us because of what the followers of falsehood have done?" 173 That is how We explain Our signs distinctly so that they may come back (to the right path). 174 And tell them what happens to him to whom We vouchsafe Our messages and who then discards them: Satan catches up with him, and he strays, like so many others, into grievous error. 175 And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our signs. So relate the stories that perhaps they will give thought. 176 Evil is the example of the people who reject Our signs as false and perpetrate wrong against their own selves. 177 Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the one who follows the right way; and whomsoever He causes to err, these are the losers. 178 And most certainly have We destined for hell many of the invisible beings and men who have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, and eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear. They are like cattle - nay, they are even less conscious of the right way: it is they, they who are the [truly] heedless! 179 To God belong the Names Most Beautiful; so call Him by them, and leave those who blaspheme His Names -- they shall assuredly be recompensed for the things they did. 180 And of those whom We have created there is a community guiding others with truth and acting justly according thereto. 181