Or [do you think,] perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons? 16 For [thus it is:] if any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] what he so readily attributes to the Most Gracious, his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger: 17 Hath He taken to Himself that which is reared in ornaments, and is in contention not plain? 18 And they appoint the angels, who are the bondmen of the Most Gracious, as females; were they present at the time of the angels’ creation? Their declaration will be now recorded and they will be questioned. 19 And they said: "If it had been the Will of the Most Beneficent (Allah), we should not have worshipped them (false deities)." They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do nothing but lie! 20 Have We vouchsafed unto them any Book before this, so that they are to it holding fast? 21 No, but they say: 'We found our fathers following a creed, and by following in their footsteps we are guided. 22 And even so We sent not a warner before thee (Muhammad) into any township but its luxurious ones said: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are following their footprints. 23 ۞ Each Prophet asked them: “Will you do so even if we were to show you a way better than the way of your forefathers?” They answered: “We disbelieve in the religion with which you have been sent.” 24 So We took vengeance upon them; and behold how was the end of them that cried lies. 25