Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people 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 She said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah." 18 He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. 19 Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!" 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 ۞ So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, "Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten." 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 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 So eat and drink and cool your eyes; and if you see any person say to him: 'Verily I have vowed a fast to the Most Compassionate Lord, and so I shall not speak to anyone today.' " 26 Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. 27 O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a loose woman!" 28 But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? 29 The child proclaimed, “I am Allah’s bondman; He has given me the Book and made me a Herald of the Hidden (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 (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 32 Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!' 33 That is Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, concerning which they are doubting. 34 God is too Exalted to have a son. When He decides to bring some thing into existence He needs only command it to exist and it comes into existence. 35 Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. 36 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 37 Much will they listen and much will they see, on the Day when they come to Us, but today the unjust are in open error. 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 Surely We shall inherit the earth and all that are upon it, and unto Us they shall be returned. 40