Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. 17 (And when she saw him) she said: 'I take refuge in the Merciful from you! If you are fearful' 18 He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy." 19 "How can I have a son," she said, "when no man has touched me, nor am I sinful?" 20 He said: "Thus will it be. Your Lord said: 'It is easy for Me,' and that: 'We shall make him a sign for men and a blessing from Us.' This is a thing already decreed." 21 ۞ Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far off place. 22 When she started to experience (the pain of) of childbirth labor, by the trunk of a palm tree in sadness she said, "Would that I had died long before and passed into 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 and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee. 25 “Therefore eat and drink and appease your eyes; so if you meet any person then say, ‘I have pledged a fast (of silence) to the Most Gracious – I will therefore not speak to any person today.’” 26 And she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her). They said: O Marium! surely you have done a strange thing. 27 “O sister of Haroon, neither was your father an evil man nor was your mother of poor conduct!” 28 But she pointed towards him. "How can we talk to one," they said, "who is only an infant in the cradle?" 29 He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet; 30 Blessed He has made me, wherever I may be; and He has enjoined me to pray, and to give the alms, so long as I live, 31 And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 32 Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! 33 Such was the true story of Jesus, the son of Mary, about which they dispute bitterly. 34 God is too Exalted to have a son. When He decides to bring some thing into existence He needs only command it to exist and it comes into existence. 35 And [thus it was that Jesus always said]: "Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way." 36 Then groups among them differed; so ruin is for the disbelievers from the witnessing of a Great Day. 37 How sharp of hearing, how sharp of sight they will be when they come to Us. But today, these evil-doers are obviously lost in error. 38 And warn them, [O Muhammad], of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be concluded; and [yet], they are in [a state of] heedlessness, and they do not believe. 39 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40