AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 We sent to her Our Spirit (Gabriel) in the resemblance of a perfect human. 17 She said: I verily seek refuge with the Compassionate from thee if thou art God-fearing. 18 He said, “I am indeed one sent by your Lord; so that I may give you a chaste son.” 19 She said: "How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" 20 [The angel] answered: "Thus it is; [but] thy Sustainer says, 'This is easy for Me; and [thou shalt have a son,] so that We might make him a symbol unto mankind and an act of grace from US. And it was a thing decreed [by God]: 21 ۞ Then she conceived him and withdrew with him to a far-off place. 22 Then the birth-pangs drave her to the trunk of a palm-tree; she said: would that I had died afore this and become forgotten, lost in oblivion! 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 If you shake the trunk of the palm tree, it will provide you with fresh ripe dates. 25 Eat therefore, and drink, and be comforted; and if thou shouldst see any mortal, say, "I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man. 26 Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, 'Mary, thou hast surely committed a monstrous thing! 27 "O sister (i.e. the like) of Harun (Aaron) [not the brother of Musa (Moses), but he was another pious man at the time of Maryam (Mary)]! Your father was not a man who used to commit adultery, nor your mother was an unchaste woman." 28 But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? 29 "He ['Iesa (Jesus)] said: Verily! I am a slave of Allah, He has given me the Scripture and made 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 dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; 32 Blessed was I on the day I was born, and blessed I shall be on the day I die and on the day I am raised to life again." 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 verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him; this is a way straight. 36 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 37 See and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! yet the evil-doers are today in error manifest. 38 Warn thou them of the day of anguish, when the matter shall be determined, and they yet heedless and unbelieving. 39 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40