أَوْ تَقُولُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَآ أَشْرَكَ ءَابَآؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا ذُرِّيَّةً مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ أَفَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ
Aw taqooloo innam a ashraka a b a on a min qablu wakunn a th urriyyatan min baAAdihim afatuhlikun a bim a faAAala almub t iloon a or lest you say, "Verily, it was but our forefathers who, in times gone by, began to ascribe divinity to other beings beside God; and we were but their late offspring: wilt Thou, then, destroy us for the doings of those inventors of falsehoods?"
 - Mohammad Asad
or lest you should say: "Our forefathers started the practice of shirk and we just followed, being their descendants. Will you then destroy us on account of following the sin committed by those wrongdoers?"
 - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Nor say, 'It was our forefathers who had associated others 'with Allah in worship' and we, as their descendants, followed in their footsteps. Will you then destroy us for the falsehood they invented?''
 - Mustafa Khattab
Or lest ye should say: (It is) only (that) our fathers ascribed partners to Allah of old and we were (their) seed after them. Wilt Thou destroy us on account of that which those who follow falsehood did?
 - Marmaduke Pickthall
Or lest ye should say: "Our fathers before us may have taken false gods but we are (their) descendants after them: wilt thou then destroy us because of the deeds of men who were futile?" 1148
 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali