AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 and kept herself in seclusion from them, whereupon We sent unto her Our angel of revelation, who appeared to her in the shape of a well-made human being. 17 She said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah." 18 He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] 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] 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 withdrew with him to a distant place. 22 Then the birth pangs drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree and she said: "Oh, would that I had died before this and had been all forgotten." 23 Thereupon [a voice] called out to her from beneath that [palm-tree]: "Grieve not! Thy Sustainer has provided a rivulet [running] beneath thee; 24 And shake towards you the trunk of the palmtree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates: 25 Eat, drink, and rejoice. Should you see a person going by, tell him that on this day you have promised the Beneficent God to fast and never talk to any human being." 26 Then she brought him (the baby) to her people, carrying him. They said: "O Mary! Indeed you have brought a thing Fariya (an unheard mighty thing). 27 O sister of Harun: thy father was not a man of evil, nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 Then she Pointed to him. They said: how shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? 29 He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; 30 He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving throughout my life. 31 (He has made me) kind to my mother; He has not made me arrogant, unprosperous. 32 Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! 33 That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute. 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 (Jesus only said:) "Surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is the straight path." 36 But different parties began to dispute with one another. A dreadful woe awaits on that great Day for those that reject the Truth. 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 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40