Or, has He taken daughters from those He has created for Himself and favored sons for you? 16 And when one of them is given good tidings of that which he attributes to the Most Merciful in comparison, his face becomes dark, and he suppresses grief. 17 So is one brought up in ornaments while being during conflict unevident [attributed to Allah]? 18 And [yet] they claim that the angels - who in themselves are but beings created by the Most Gracious - are females: [but] did they witness their creation? This false claim of theirs will be recorded, and they will be called to account [for it on Judgment Day]! 19 They say: “Had the Merciful One so willed, we would never have worshipped these deities.” But they have no knowledge of the matter and are simply conjecturing. 20 Did We give them a Scripture before this to which they are holding fast? 21 Rather, they say, "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are in their footsteps [rightly] guided." 22 As such, We never sent a warner before you to a village, except those living in luxury said: 'We found our fathers following a creed, and by following in their footsteps we are guided' 23 ۞ (And the warner) said: What! Even though I bring you better guidance than that ye found your fathers following? They answered: Lo! in what ye bring we 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