________________
THE QUR'ÂN.
Yet they make for Him of His servants offspring; verily, man is surely obviously ungrateful.
[15] Has He taken of what He creates daughters, and chosen sons for you?
212
XLIII, 14-23.
Yet when the tidings1 are given any one of that which he strikes out as a similitude for the Merciful One, his face grows black and he is choked. What! one brought up amongst ornaments, and who is always in contention without obvious cause??
And have they made the angels, who are the servants of the Merciful One, females? Were they witnesses of their creation? their witness shall be written down, and they shall be questioned; and they say, 'Had the Merciful pleased we should never have worshipped them.' They have no knowledge of that, they only conjecture.
[20] Have we given them a book before it to which they might hold?
Nay; they say, 'We found our fathers (agreed) upon a religion, and, verily, we are guided by their traces.'
Thus, too, did we never send before thee to a city any warner, but the affluent ones thereof said, 'Verily, we found our fathers (agreed) upon a religion, and, verily, we are led by their traces.'
Say, 'What! if I come to you with what is a better guide than what ye found your fathers agreed upon?' and they will say, 'Verily, we in what ye are sent with disbelieve !"
1 I. e. of the birth of a daughter, see Part I, p. 256, note 2. 2 I. e. what do they assign children of this kind, viz. daughters, to God?
3 I. e. a scripture authorising the practice of their religion, such as the worship of angels and the ascribing of daughters to God.
Digitized by
Google
