(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 and kept herself in seclusion from them, whereupon We sent unto her Our angel of revelation, who appeared to her in the shape of a well-made human being. 17 (And when she saw him) she said: 'I take refuge in the Merciful from you! If you are fearful' 18 He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will 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: "So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, 'that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us': It is a matter (so) decreed." 21 ۞ Then she conceived him, and she retired with him to a place far-off. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" 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 the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you." 25 Eat therefore, and drink, and be comforted; and if thou shouldst see any mortal, say, "I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man. 26 Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, 'Mary, thou hast surely committed a monstrous thing! 27 O sister of Haroun! your father was not a bad man, nor, was your mother an unchaste woman. 28 She pointed to the child. They said, "How shall we talk to someone who is a child in the cradle?" 29 [But] he said: "Behold, I am a servant of God. He has vouchsafed unto me revelation and made me a prophet, 30 And blessed me wherever I may be, and enjoined on me worship and zakat for as long as I live, 31 "And dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. 32 Blessed was I on the day I was born, and blessed I shall be on the day I die and on the day I am raised to life again." 33 That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute. 34 Allah is not one to take to Himself a son. Hallowed be He! whensoever He decreeth an affair he only Saith to it: be, and it becometh. 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 clearly will they (polytheists and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) see and hear, the Day when they will appear before Us! But the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers) today are in plain error. 38 Warn them of that day of pining when all matters will have been settled, though they would still be unaware and unbelieving (of the truth). 39 We are the heirs of the earth and those living in it will all return to Us. 40