What! has He taken daughters out of what He himself creates, and granted to you sons for choice? 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 "What! [Am I to have a daughter] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?" and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict. 18 They claim that angels, who are Allah's chosen servants, are females. Did they witness how their body is constituted? Their testimony shall be written and they shall be called to account. 19 Yet they say: "Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!" [But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess. 20 Or have We given them a book before it so that they hold fast to it? 21 Rather they said, “We found our forefathers upon a religion, and we are following their footsteps.” 22 In the same way, whenever We had sent a Messenger before you to warn a town, the rich ones therein said, "We found our fathers following a certain belief and we follow in their footsteps. 23 ۞ He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)." 24 So We inflicted retribution on them, then see how was the end of the rejecters. 25