AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 and drew a curtain, screening herself from people whereupon We sent to her Our spirit and he appeared to her as a well-shaped man. 17 She said: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent Allah, if you are one guarding (against evil). 18 He said, “I am indeed one sent by your Lord; so that I may give you a chaste son.” 19 She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? 20 The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " 21 ۞ She conceived the child and retreated with him to a distant and solitary 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 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 the trunk of the palm-tree towards you – ripe fresh dates will fall upon you.” (This was a miracle – the date palm was dry and it was winter season.) 25 "So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day. 26 At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! 27 O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 Mary pointed to the child then; but they said, 'How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?' 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed 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 the day I was born and the day I will die, and the day I will be raised up alive." 33 SUCH WAS, in the words of truth, Jesus the son of Mary, about whose nature they so deeply disagree. 34 It beseems not Allah that He should take to Himself a son, glory to be Him; when He has decreed a matter 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 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 37 How well will they hear and see [the truth] on the Day when they come before Us! Today, however, these evildoers are obviously lost in error: 38 Warn them of the woeful day when the final decree will be issued; they are neglectful and faithless. 39 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40