Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 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: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent Allah, if you are one guarding (against evil). 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 shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" 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 ۞ She conceived the child and retreated with him to a distant and solitary 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 But a voice called out to her from below, "Do not despair. Your Lord has provided a brook that runs at your feet, 24 If you shake the trunk of the palm tree, it will provide you with fresh ripe dates. 25 So eat and drink thou, and cool thine eyes; and if thou beholdest the human beings anyone, say: verily I have vowed to the Compassionate a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human being. 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! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 Then she Pointed to him. They said: how shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? 29 He said, "I am the servant of God. He has given me the Book and has appointed me to be a Prophet. 30 He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving throughout my life. 31 And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. 32 "Hence, peace was upon me on the day when I was born, and [will be upon me] on the day of my death, and on the day when I shall be raised to life [again]!" 33 SUCH WAS, in the words of truth, Jesus the son of Mary, about whose nature they so deeply disagree. 34 It befits not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son [this refers to the slander of Christians against Allah, by saying that 'Iesa (Jesus) is the son of Allah]. Glorified (and Exalted be He above all that they associate with Him). When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, "Be!" and it is. 35 Surely God is my Lord, and your Lord; So serve you Him. This is a straight path. 36 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 37 How clearly shall they hear and how clearly shall they see on the day when they come to Us; but the unjust this day are in manifest error. 38 (O Muhammad), warn those who are steeped in heedlessness and are obstinately rejecting the truth that the Day shall come when things will be finally decided and they shall be left with utter remorse. 39 Surely We shall inherit the earth and all that are upon it, and unto Us they shall be returned. 40