And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east. 16 We sent to her Our Spirit (Gabriel) in the resemblance of a perfect human. 17 She exclaimed: "Verily, 'I seek refuge from thee with the Most Gracious! [Approach me not] if thou art conscious of Him!" 18 If thou fearest God... He said, 'I am but a messenger come from thy Lord, to give thee a boy most pure. 19 She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?" 20 He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed. 21 ۞ and in time she conceived him, and then she withdrew with him to a far-off place. 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 Then one cried unto her from underneath her, that grieve not, thy Lord hath placed underneath thou a rivulet. 24 If you shake the trunk of the palm tree, it will provide you with fresh ripe dates. 25 Eat and drink, and be at peace. If you see any man, tell him: 'I have verily vowed a fast to Ar-Rahman and cannot speak to any one this day.' 26 She took him to her people and they said, "Mary, this is indeed an strange thing. 27 "O sister (i.e. the like) of Harun (Aaron) [not the brother of Musa (Moses), but he was another pious man at the time of Maryam (Mary)]! Your father was not a man who used to commit adultery, nor your mother was an unchaste woman." 28 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" 29 He Said: verily I am a bondman of Allah; He hath vouchsafed me the Book and made me a prophet. 30 He made me to be blessed wherever I am, and He has charged me with prayer and charity for as long as I shall live. 31 And duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 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 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 And [thus it was that Jesus always said]: "Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way." 36 Yet different groups differed among themselves. How awful it will be for those who have rejected the truth when a dreadful Day arrives! 37 How well will they hear and see [the truth] on the Day when they come before Us! Today, however, these evildoers are obviously lost in error: 38 And warn them, [O Muhammad], of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be concluded; and [yet], they are in [a state of] heedlessness, and they do not believe. 39 It is We who will inherit the earth and all who dwell upon it: they shall all return to Us. 40