And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east. 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: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent Allah, if you are one guarding (against evil). 18 [The angel] answered: "I am but a messenger of thy Sustainer, [who says,] 'I shall bestow upon thee the gift of a son endowed with purity.'" 19 She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?" 20 He said: "So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, 'that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us': It is a matter (so) decreed." 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley about 4-6 miles from Jerusalem). 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 (The angel) Therefore called her from below her, “Do not grieve – your Lord has made a river flow below you.” 24 and if you shake the trunk of this palm-tree, it will drop fresh ripe dates on you. 25 Therefore eat and drink and rejoice with your eyes. If you meet any human say to him: "I have vowed a fast to the Merciful and will not speak with anyone today.' 26 And in time she returned to her people, carrying the child with her. They said: "O Mary! Thou hast indeed done an amazing thing! 27 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 Thereupon she pointed to him. They exclaimed: "How can we talk to one who [as yet] is a little boy in the cradle?" 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, 30 And He hath made me blest wheresoever I may be, and enjoined on me the prayer and the poor-rate as long as I am alive. 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 was Jesus, son of Mary: A true account they contend about. 34 It is not conceivable that God should have taken unto Himself a son: limitless is He in His glory! When He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it "Be" - and it is! 35 And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. 36 But parties from among them disagreed with each other, so woe to those who disbelieve, because of presence on 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 And warn them, [O Muhammad], of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be concluded; and [yet], they are in [a state of] heedlessness, and they do not believe. 39 Indeed We shall inherit the earth and all that is on it, and only towards Us will they return. 40