When your Lord brought forth offspring from the loins of the Children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, He said, "Am I not your Lord?" They replied, "We bear witness that You are." This He did, lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, "We had no knowledge of that." 172 Or say: 'Our forefathers before us who associated others with Allah in His divinity; we were merely their offspring who followed them. And would You destroy us for that which the unrighteous did?' 173 And thus do We make clear the communications, and that haply they might return. 174 Relate to them the story of the man to whom We sent Our signs, but he passed them by: so Satan followed him up, 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 Those whom God has guided have the true guidance, but those whom He has caused to go astray are certainly lost. 178 And certainly We have created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind; they have hearts with which they fail to understand; and they have eyes with which they fail to see; and they have ears with which they fail to hear. They are like cattle - indeed, even more astray. Such are utterly 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 Among Our creatures are a group who guide and judge with the Truth. 181