And mention thou in the Book Maryam, what time she retired from her people to a place eastward. 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 Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." 18 "I am only the messenger of your Lord," he replied. "I shall bestow upon you the gift of a son endowed with purity." 19 Mary said: "How can a boy be born to me when no man has even touched me, nor have I ever been unchaste?" 20 He said: "So (it will be), your Lord said: 'That is easy for Me (Allah): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allah), and it is a matter (already) decreed, (by Allah). 21 ۞ She conceived the child and retreated with him to a distant and solitary 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 Then (a voice) called to her from below: "Grieve not; your Lord has made a rivulet gush forth right below you. 24 And shake towards you the trunk of the palmtree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates: 25 So eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say: Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent Allah, so I shall not speak to any man today. 26 She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous thing. 27 Aaron's sister, your father was not a bad man nor was your mother unchaste". 28 But she pointed towards him. "How can we talk to one," they said, "who is only an infant in the cradle?" 29 He said, 'Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. 30 "And He has made me blessed wheresoever I be, and has enjoined on me Salat (prayer), and Zakat, as long as I live." 31 And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; 32 Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! 33 This is Jesus, the son of Mary; and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt. 34 It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: 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 groups among them differed; so ruin is for the disbelievers from the witnessing of a Great Day. 37 How wondrous in their hearing and their sight will they be the Day they come unto Us! But today the wrong doers are in error manifest. 38 hence, warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Regrets, when everything will have been decided - for as yet they are heedless, and they do not believe [in it]. 39 It is We who will inherit the earth and all who dwell upon it: they shall all return to Us. 40