(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects. 17 Mary said, "Would that the Beneficent God would protect me from you. Leave me alone if you are a God fearing person". 18 'I am the Messenger of your Lord' he replied, 'and have come to give you a pure boy' 19 She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?" 20 He said, "This is true but your Lord says, "It is very easy for Me. We have decided to give you a son as evidence (of Our existence) for human beings and a mercy from Us. This is a decree already ordained." 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she retired with him to a remote 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 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 toward thee the trunk of the palm-tree it shall drop on 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 the child to her people. They exclaimed: "O Mary, you have done a most astonishing thing! 27 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a wicked person, nor your mother sinful!" 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, 30 and has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and Zakah (purifying alms) as long as I live; 31 and likewise to cherish my mother; He has not made me arrogant, unprosperous. 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 is 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). (it is) a statement of truth, about which they doubt (or dispute). 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 And verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him; this is a way straight. 36 And yet, the sects [that follow the Bible] are at variance among themselves [about the nature of Jesus Woe, then, unto all who deny the truth when that awesome Day will appear! 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 Warn thou them of the day of anguish, when the matter shall be determined, and they yet heedless and unbelieving. 39 Lo! We, only We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. 40