Overall meaning : The Arab idolaters claim that the angels, who are the obedient servants of the All-Compassionate God, are females! Were they present at the time Allah created the angels and so they know for sure they are females?! Their testimony will be written down, and they will be questioned about it on the Day of Resurrection.
They say, ‘Had it been the will of the All-Compassionate God, we would not have worshipped them!’ They have no knowledge whatsoever in support of such a claim. They are only lying. Did We give these liars a scripture before this Qur’an substantiating their claim, and so they are holding fast to such scripture?! That is not the honest truth of the matter. Rather, they say, ‘We found our fathers practising this faith, and we are following in their footsteps.’
Just as the unbelievers of the past nations behaved, so do the Quraysh idolaters, parroting exactly what they said. Never did We send forth a messenger before you, Muhammad, to a city to warn its people of Our punishment, but its leaders who lived in ease and opulence said, out of sheer pride and conceit, ‘We found our fathers practising this faith, and we are following in their footsteps.’
The messenger would say to them, ‘Will you still follow your fathers in their error even though I have brought you a religion offering you better guidance and is more beneficial for you in this life and the next than what you found your fathers practising?!’ They would reply, ‘We totally reject the message with which you have been sent.’ When they stubbornly persisted in their error, We punished them in utter disgrace. See then, Muhammad, the terrible end of those who obstinately persisted in their unbelief. Your people should beware of meeting the same fate if they follow in their footsteps!