Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 So she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man. 17 She exclaimed: "Verily, 'I seek refuge from thee with the Most Gracious! [Approach me not] if thou art conscious of Him!" 18 He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy." 19 She said: "How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" 20 He said: even so! Thy Lord saith: it is with Me easy, and it is in order that We may make him a sign unto mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is an affair decreed. 21 ۞ Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far off place. 22 And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! 23 But the one that was below her called to her, 'Nay, do not sorrow; see, thy Lord has set below thee a rivulet. 24 and shake the trunk of this palmtree it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you. 25 So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.' " 26 She took him to her people and they said, "Mary, this is indeed an strange thing. 27 O sister of Aaron! Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman." 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 [But] he said, "I am God's servant. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; 30 And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, 31 And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; 32 And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. 33 Such is Isa, son of Marium; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute. 34 It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is. 35 Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. 36 Yet different groups differed among themselves. How awful it will be for those who have rejected the truth when a dreadful Day arrives! 37 How well shall they hear and how well shall they see on the Day they come to Us! But today the evil-doers are in manifest 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 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40