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 you say: 'Our forefathers were idolaters before, and we were the descendants after them, will You destroy us for the deeds of the vaindoers' 173 And thus do We expound the signs that they may turn back (to the right path). 174 And recite to them the narrative of him to whom We give Our communications, but he withdraws himself from them, so the Shaitan overtakes him, so he is of those who go 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 as an example are the folk who denied Our revelations, and were wont to wrong themselves. 177 Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the one who follows the right way; and whomsoever He causes to err, these are the losers. 178 We have destined many men and jinn for hell. They have hearts but do not understand, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear. They are worse than lost cattle. These are the heedless ones. 179 And Allah's are the best names, therefore call on Him thereby, and leave alone those who violate the sanctity of His names; they shall be recompensed for what they did. 180 Among Our creatures are a group who guide and judge with the Truth. 181