Has God chosen some of His own creatures as daughters for Himself and has given you the preference of having sons? 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 Do they assign to Allah one who grows up amidst ornaments and is not well-versed in the art of disputation? 18 They claim that the angels, who are themselves the worshipers of the Merciful, are females. Did they witness their creation! Their witness shall be written down and they shall be questioned. 19 Yet they say: "Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!" [But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess. 20 What! have We given them a Book before this, to which they are holding fast? 21 In fact they say: "We found our fathers following a certain way, and are guided by their footprints." 22 And similarly, whenever We sent a Herald of Warning before you (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) into any town, its wealthy people said, “We found our forefathers upon a religion, and we are behind their footsteps.” 23 ۞ Say: 'What then if I bring you a better guidance than that you found your fathers following' But they reply: 'We disbelieve in that you have been sent with.' 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