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 Hath He taken to Himself that which is reared in ornaments, and is in contention not plain? 18 And they have made the angels, who are themselves servants of the All-merciful, females. What, did they witness their creation? Their witness shall be written down, and they shall be questioned. 19 ("Ah!") they say, "If it had been the will of (Allah) Most Gracious, we should not have worshipped such (deities)!" Of that they have no knowledge! they do nothing but lie! 20 Or have We, perchance, vouchsafed them, before this one, a revelation [to the contrary,] to which they are still holding fast? 21 Rather, they say, "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are in their footsteps [rightly] guided." 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 ۞ Each messenger said, "What if I should bring you better guidance than what you found your forefathers had?" They replied, "We reject any message you have been sent with!" 24 So we took retribution from them; then see how was the end of the deniers. 25