وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ وَإِلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ قَالُوا۟ حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءَابَآءَنَآ ۚ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
Wa izaa qeela lahum ta'aalaw ilaa maaa anzalallaahu wa ilar Rasooli qaaloo hasbunaa maa wajadnaa 'alaihi aabaaa'anaa; awa law kaana aabaaa'uhum laa ya'lamoona shai'anw wa laa yahtadoon
اور جب ان لوگوں سے کہا جاتا ہے کہ جو (کتاب) خدا نے نازل فرمائی ہے اس کی اور رسول الله کی طرف رجوع کرو تو کہتے ہیں کہ جس طریق پر ہم نے اپنے باپ دادا کو پایا ہے وہی ہمیں کافی ہے بھلا اگر ان کے باپ دادا نہ تو کچھ جانتے ہوں اور نہ سیدھے رستے پر ہوں (تب بھی؟)
When it is said to them, "Come to what God has sent down, and to the Messenger," they say, "What we found our fathers practicing is enough for us." Even though their fathers knew nothing and were not guided?
What the previous verse describes is a set of livestock dedications: camels marked, camels set loose, animals spared from slaughter. The appeal to the fathers is therefore made on behalf of customs nobody could give a reason for, and the reply comes as a question, which leaves whoever raised the objection to answer it. The habit of mind named here outlives its occasion, surfacing wherever a practice has lasted longer than the knowledge that produced it.