Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 We sent to her Our Spirit (Gabriel) in the resemblance of a perfect human. 17 Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." 18 He said: "I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most 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] answered: "Thus it is; [but] thy Sustainer says, 'This is easy for Me; and [thou shalt have a son,] so that We might make him a symbol unto mankind and an act of grace from US. And it was a thing decreed [by God]: 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!" 23 But a voice called out to her from below, "Do not despair. Your Lord has provided a brook that runs at your feet, 24 and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee. 25 Eat therefore, and drink, and be comforted; and if thou shouldst see any mortal, say, "I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man. 26 Then she brought him to her nation carrying him. They said: Maryam! assuredly thou hast brought a thing unheard Of. 27 O sister of Haroun! your father was not a bad man, nor, was your mother an unchaste woman. 28 Then she Pointed to him. They said: how shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? 29 "I am a servant of God," he answered. "He has given me a Book and 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 And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 32 Peace be upon me on the day I was born, and on the day I die; and on the day when I shall be raised up alive' 33 This was Jesus, son of Mary: A true account they contend about. 34 It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is. 35 Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. 36 Then the sects have differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve in the witness of a Day Mighty! 37 How well they will hear and see on the Day when they come before Us! The evildoers are today in clear error. 38 And warn thou them of the Day of Sighing when the affair shall have been decreed while yet they are in negligence and are not believing. 39 It is We Who will inherit the earth, and all beings thereon: to Us will they all be returned. 40