What! has He taken daughters out of what He himself creates, and granted to you sons for choice? 16 When one of them is given the glad news of the birth of a daughter, which they believe to be the only kind of child that the Beneficent God can have, his face blackens with anger. 17 What! that which is made in ornaments and which in contention is unable to make plain speech! 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 And they said, "If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them." They have of that no knowledge. They are not but falsifying. 20 Or have We given them a book before the Qur'an to which they are adhering? 21 No, but they say: 'We found our fathers following a creed, and by following in their footsteps we are guided. 22 And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures would always say: "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!" 23 ۞ [Each warner] said, "Even if I brought you better guidance than that [religion] upon which you found your fathers?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers." 24 So We requited them. Then see the nature of the consequence for the rejecters! 25