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, lest they should say: "It were our fathers who had ascribed compeers to God; we are only their offspring. Will You destroy us for the deeds of those who dealt in vanities?" 173 And thus clearly do We spell out these messages; and [We do it] so that they [who have sinned] might return [unto Us]. 174 Recite to them the tale of the man to whom We gave Our signs, but who then cast them to one side and Satan overtook him. And he became one of those who went astray, 175 Now had We so willed We could indeed have exalted him through those signs, but he clung to earthly life and followed his carnal desires. Thus his parable is that of the dog who lolls out his tongue whether you attack him or leave him alone. Such is the parable of those who reject Our signs as false. Narrate to them these parables that they may reflect. 176 What an evil example is of those who denied Our signs and used to wrong only their own souls. 177 Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the guided one, and whomsoever He sends astray, those! They are the losers. 178 And certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and the men; they have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear; they are as cattle, nay, they are in worse errors; these are the heedless ones. 179 To Allah belongs the Finest Names, so call Him by them, and keep away from those who pervert them. They shall be recompensed for the things they did. 180 Of those We have created there are some who give true guidance and act justly. 181