AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our Ruh [angel Jibrael (Gabriel)], and he appeared before her in the form of a man in all respects. 17 She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art Allah-fearing. 18 He said: "Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son. 19 She said, "How can I have a son when no mortal has touched me nor am I an unchaste woman". 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 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. 22 And [when] the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree, she exclaimed: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and had become a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!" 23 Then she heard the baby saying, "Do not be sad. Your Lord has caused a stream to run at your feet. 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 cool (thine) eye. And if thou dost see any man, say, 'I have vowed a fast to (Allah) Most Gracious, and this day will I enter into not talk with any human being'" 26 Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. 27 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 Thereupon Mary pointed to the child. They exclaimed: "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle, a mere child?" 29 He said, 'Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. 30 And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live; 31 (He has made me) kind to my mother; He has not made me arrogant, unprosperous. 32 Peace be upon me the day I was born and the day I will die, and the day I will be raised up alive." 33 Such was Jesus, the son of Mary. That is the whole truth, about which they still dispute: 34 It beseems not Allah that He should take to Himself a son, glory to be Him; when He has decreed a matter 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 But the parties have fallen into variance among themselves, then woe to those who disbelieve for the scene of a Dreadful Day. 37 Much will they listen and much will they see, on the Day when they come to Us, but today the unjust are in open error. 38 Warn them of that Day of Anguish, when the matter is determined whilst heedlessly they disbelieve. 39 It is We who will inherit the earth and all who dwell upon it: they shall all return to Us. 40