(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 Then she took beside them a curtain; then We sent unto her Our Spirit, and he took unto her the form of a human being sound. 17 She said: I verily seek refuge with the Compassionate from thee if thou art God-fearing. 18 He said: I am but a messenger from thy Lord that I may bestow on thee a boy pure. 19 Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!" 20 The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a distant 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 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 "So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day. 26 Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. 27 O sister of Harun: thy father was not a man of evil, nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 Mary pointed to the child then; but they said, 'How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?' 29 "I am a servant of God," he answered. "He has given me a Book and made me a prophet, 30 "And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; 31 And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. 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 This is Jesus, the son of Mary; and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt. 34 it does not befit the majesty of God that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! He is far above that: when He decrees something, He says only, "Be!" and it is. 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 But parties from among them disagreed with each other, so woe to those who disbelieve, because of presence on a great day. 37 How wondrous in their hearing and their sight will they be the Day they come unto Us! But today the wrong doers are in error manifest. 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 Lo! We, only We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. 40