Or has He taken to Himself, from that He creates, daughters, and favoured you with sons? 16 And if one of them is given the glad tidings of what he professes regarding the Most Gracious, his face blackens and he is mournful! 17 "What! [Am I to have a daughter] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?" and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict. 18 And they make the angels who are the bondmen of the Compassionate females. Have they witnessed their creation? Their testimony will be written down, and they will be questioned. 19 And they say: If the Beneficent Allah had pleased, we should never have worshipped them. They have no knowledge of this; they only lie. 20 Or have We given them any Book before this (the Quran), to which they are holding fast? 21 Rather they said, “We found our forefathers upon a religion, and we are following their footsteps.” 22 Whenever We sent a messenger before you to warn a township, the affluent among them said, in the same way, "We saw our fathers following this tradition; we are only following in their footsteps." 23 ۞ He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)." 24 So we took retribution from them; then see how was the end of the deniers. 25