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 That is how We explain Our signs distinctly so that they may come back (to the right path). 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 Evil is the likeness of the people who reject Our communications and are unjust to their own souls. 177 Whoever Allah guides - he is the [rightly] guided; and whoever He sends astray - it is those who are the losers. 178 For Gehenna, We have created many jinn and many humans. They have hearts, with which they cannot understand; eyes, with which they do not see; and ears, with which they do not hear. They are like cattle, rather, they are the more misguided. Such are the heedless. 179 Allah's are the fairest names. Invoke Him by them. And leave the company of those who blaspheme His names. They will be requited what they do. 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