And mention thou in the Book Maryam, what time she retired from her people to a place eastward. 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 She said: I verily seek refuge with the Compassionate from thee if thou art God-fearing. 18 He replied: "I am only a messenger from your Lord (sent) to bestow a good son on you." 19 She said, "How can I have a son when no mortal has touched me nor am I an unchaste woman". 20 "Even so" he replied, "as such your Lord has said: 'Easy it is for Me. And We shall make him a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us. It is a matter decreed.'" 21 ۞ And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!" 23 Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. 24 and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee. 25 Eat, drink, and rejoice. Should you see a person going by, tell him that on this day you have promised the Beneficent God to fast and never talk to any human being." 26 At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! 27 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste." 28 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" 29 The child proclaimed, “I am Allah’s bondman; He has given me the Book and made me a Herald of the Hidden (a Prophet).” 30 He has blessed me no matter where I dwell, commanded me to worship Him and pay the religious tax for as long as I live. 31 And be dutiful to my mother. He has not made me haughty or rebellious. 32 And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive." 33 Such was the true story of Jesus, the son of Mary, about which they dispute bitterly. 34 It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is. 35 God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. 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 intense regret, when the matter shall have been decided; and they are (now) in negligence and they do not believe. 39 For We shall inherit the earth and all that are on it. To Us, they shall return. 40