AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 and drew a curtain, screening herself from people whereupon We sent to her Our spirit and he appeared to her as a well-shaped 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 replied: "I am only a messenger from your Lord (sent) to bestow a good son on you." 19 She said, "How can I have a son when no mortal has touched me nor am I an unchaste woman". 20 He said, “So it is; your Lord has said, ‘This is easy for Me’; and in order that We make him a sign for mankind and a Mercy from Us; and this matter has been decreed.” 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley about 4-6 miles from Jerusalem). 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 Eat, then, and drink, and let thine eye be gladdened! And if thou shouldst see any human being, convey this unto him: 'Behold, abstinence from speech have I vowed unto the Most Gracious; hence, I may not speak today to any mortal. 26 At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! 27 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 Mary pointed to the child then; but they said, 'How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?' 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, 30 And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive 31 And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. 32 "And Salam (peace) be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" 33 This is Jesus, the son of Mary; and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt. 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 God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. That is the right path. 36 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 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 Warn them of the woeful day when the final decree will be issued; they are neglectful and faithless. 39 Lo! We, only We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. 40