(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 So there she screened herself from them; We therefore sent Our Spirit towards her – he appeared before her in the form of a healthy man. (Angel Jibreel – peace be upon him.) 17 Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." 18 He said: "Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son. 19 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I 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 retired with him to a remote place. 22 And [when] the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree, she exclaimed: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and had become a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!" 23 Then (the child) called out to her from beneath her: Grieve not, surely your Lord has made a stream to flow beneath you; 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 consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. 26 Carrying her child, she brought him to her people. They said, "O Mary, you have indeed done something terrible! 27 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a wicked person, nor your mother sinful!" 28 Thereupon she pointed towards the child; they said, “How can we speak to an infant who is in the cradle?” 29 "I am a servant of God," he answered. "He has given me a Book and made me a prophet, 30 and has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and Zakah (purifying alms) as long as I live; 31 and has made me dutiful to my mother. He has not made me oppressive, nor bereft of God's blessings. 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 is Isa, son of Marium; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute. 34 Allah is not one to take to Himself a son. Hallowed be He! whensoever He decreeth an affair he only Saith to it: be, and it becometh. 35 God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. That is the right path. 36 And yet, the sects [that follow the Bible] are at variance among themselves [about the nature of Jesus Woe, then, unto all who deny the truth when that awesome Day will appear! 37 How [clearly] they will hear and see the Day they come to Us, but the wrongdoers today are in clear error. 38 And warn thou them of the Day of Sighing when the affair shall have been decreed while yet they are in negligence and are not believing. 39 Lo! We, only We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. 40