Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. 16 and she took a veil apart from them; then We sent unto her Our Spirit that presented himself to her a man without fault. 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 just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy." 19 She said: "How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?" 20 He said, "Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, 'It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.' " 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she went away with him to a far place. 22 And when the birthpangs came upon her by the trunk of a palmtree, she said: 'Oh, would that I had died before this and become a thing forgotten' 23 Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. 24 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 Eat, then, and drink, and let thine eye be gladdened! And if thou shouldst see any human being, convey this unto him: 'Behold, abstinence from speech have I vowed unto the Most Gracious; hence, I may not speak today to any mortal. 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 Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' 28 Then she Pointed to him. They said: how shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a 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 He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive 31 And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 32 "And Salam (peace) be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" 33 Such was (Prophet) Jesus, the son of Mary. A saying of truth, concerning what they doubt. 34 It does not behove God to have a son. Too immaculate is He! When He decrees a thing He has only to say: "Be", and it is. 35 And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. 36 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. 37 How well they will hear and see on the Day when they come before Us! The evildoers are today in clear error. 38 And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. 39 Surely We shall inherit the earth and all that are upon it, and unto Us they shall be returned. 40