Or [do you think,] perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons? 16 And if one of them is informed of the news of (the birth of) that which he set forth as a parable to the Most Beneficent (Allah) (i.e. of a girl), his face becomes dark, gloomy, and he is filled with grief! 17 Do they assign to Allah one who grows up amidst ornaments and is not well-versed in the art of disputation? 18 And they make the angels who themselves are slaves to the Most Beneficent (Allah) females. Did they witness their creation? Their evidence will be recorded, and they will be questioned! 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 Had We, before sending the Quran, given them a book to which they now refer as an authority? 21 Nay, but they say, 'We found our fathers upon a community, and we are guided upon their traces.' 22 And thus, We did not send before you any warner in a town, but those who led easy lives in it said: Surely we found our fathers on a course, and surely we are followers of their footsteps. 23 ۞ Say: 'What, though I should bring you a better guidance than you found your fathers upon?' They say, 'We disbelieve in that you were sent with.' 24 So We inflicted retribution on them, then see how was the end of the rejecters. 25