AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man. 17 She said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah." 18 'I am the Messenger of your Lord' he replied, 'and have come to give you a pure boy' 19 She said, "How can I have a son when no man has touched me; and neither have I been unchaste?" 20 [The angel] replied, "So shall it be; your Lord says, 'This is easy for Me; and We shall make him a sign to people and a blessing, from Us. This has been decreed.'" 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. 22 The birth pangs led her to the trunk of a date-palm tree. "Would that I had died before this," she said, "and become a thing forgotten, unremembered." 23 Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. 24 "And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you." 25 So eat and drink thou, and cool thine eyes; and if thou beholdest the human beings anyone, say: verily I have vowed to the Compassionate a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human being. 26 Then she brought him to her nation carrying him. They said: Maryam! assuredly thou hast brought a thing unheard Of. 27 Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 The child cried out: "Verily I am Allah's servant. He has granted me the Book and has made me a Prophet 30 and made me blessed wherever I may be; and He has enjoined upon me prayer and charity as long as I live, 31 He has commanded me to be good to my parents and has not made me an arrogant rebellious person. 32 Blessed was I on the day I was born, and blessed I shall be on the day I die and on the day I am raised to life again." 33 This is Eisa (Jesus), the son of Maryam; a true statement, in which they doubt. 34 It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is. 35 And [thus it was that Jesus always said]: "Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way." 36 Then groups among them differed; so ruin is for the disbelievers from the witnessing of a Great Day. 37 How well they will hear and see on the day they come to Us! But the evildoers even today are in error manifest. 38 Warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Remorse, when everything will have been decided, while they are heedless and do not believe. 39 Verily We! We shall inherit the earth and whatsoever is thereon: and unto Us they shall be returned. 40