Commemorate Mary in the Book. When she withdrew from her family to a place in 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 [The angel] answered: "I am but a messenger of thy Sustainer, [who says,] 'I shall bestow upon thee the gift of a son endowed with purity.'" 19 "How can I have a son," she said, "when no man has touched me, nor am I sinful?" 20 "Even so" he replied, "as such your Lord has said: 'Easy it is for Me. And We shall make him a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us. It is a matter decreed.'" 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. 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 But the one that was below her called to her, 'Nay, do not sorrow; see, thy Lord has set below thee a rivulet. 24 And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. 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 came to her people, carrying her baby. They said: "O Mary! You have committed a monstrous thing. 27 Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' 28 Thereupon Mary pointed to the child. They exclaimed: "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle, a mere child?" 29 He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He 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 duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 32 And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. 33 Such was Jesus, the son of Mary. That is the whole truth, about which they still 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 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 keenly would they hear and see when they come before Us then, even though today the evil-doers are lost in palpable error. 38 And warn thou them of the Day of Sighing when the affair shall have been decreed while yet they are in negligence and are not believing. 39 Indeed We shall inherit the earth and all that is on it, and only towards Us will they return. 40