Say: "If you love God then follow me that God may love you and forgive your faults; for God is forgiving and kind." 31 Say thou: obey Allah and the apostle. If thereafter they turn away; then verily Allah loveth not the infidels. 32 ۞ Surely Allah chose Adam and Nuh and the descendants of Ibrahim and the descendants of Imran above the nations. 33 seed of one another; God hears, and knows. 34 [Mention, O Muhammad], when the wife of 'Imran said, "My Lord, indeed I have pledged to You what is in my womb, consecrated [for Your service], so accept this from me. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing." 35 When she gave birth, she said, "My Lord, I have given birth to a girl," God knew very well what she had given birth to: a male is not like a female, "I have named her Mary and placed her and her children in Your protection from the rejected Satan." 36 So her Lord (Allah) accepted her with goodly acceptance. He made her grow in a good manner and put her under the care of Zakariya (Zachariya). Every time he entered Al-Mihrab to (visit) her, he found her supplied with sustenance. He said: "O Maryam (Mary)! From where have you got this?" She said, "This is from Allah." Verily, Allah provides sustenance to whom He wills, without limit." 37 There did Zakariya pray to his Lord; he said: My Lord! grant me from Thee good offspring; surely Thou art the Hearer of prayer. 38 Thereupon, as he stood praying in the sanctuary, the angels called out unto him: "God sends thee the glad tiding of [the birth of] John, who shall confirm the truth of a word from God, and [shall be] outstanding among men, and utterly chaste, and a prophet from among the righteous." 39 He said: "O my Lord! How can I have a son when I am very old, and my wife is barren?" Allah said: "Thus Allah does what He wills." 40 Zachariah prayed to God saying, "Lord, show me the evidence (that it is Divine revelation)." The Lord replied, "You must not speak to people for three days except with gestures. Commemorate your Lord often and glorify Him in the early mornings and the evenings." 41