Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man. 17 Mary said, "Would that the Beneficent God would protect me from you. Leave me alone if you are a God fearing person". 18 He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. 19 "How can I have a son," she said, "when no man has touched me, nor am I sinful?" 20 He said, 'Even so thy Lord has said: "Easy is that for Me; and that We may appoint him a sign unto men and a mercy from Us; it is a thing decreed."' 21 ۞ Then she conceived him, and she retired with him to a place far-off. 22 The birth pangs led her to the trunk of a date-palm tree. "Would that I had died before this," she said, "and become a thing forgotten, unremembered." 23 But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): "Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; 24 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 Therefore eat and drink and rejoice with your eyes. If you meet any human say to him: "I have vowed a fast to the Merciful and will not speak with anyone today.' 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 wicked man, nor was thy mother a loose woman!" 28 Then she Pointed to him. They said: how shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child? 29 He said, 'Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. 30 He has blessed me no matter where I dwell, commanded me to worship Him and pay the religious tax for as long as I live. 31 And be dutiful to my mother. He has not made me haughty or rebellious. 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 That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute. 34 It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is. 35 And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. 36 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful 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 hence, warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Regrets, when everything will have been decided - for as yet they are heedless, and they do not believe [in it]. 39 Behold, We alone shall remain after the earth and all who live on it have passed away, and [when] unto Us all will have been brought back. 40