AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 out of her people's sight. We sent Our Spirit to her, who stood before her in the shape of a well formed human being. 17 She said, 'I take refuge in the All-merciful from thee! 18 'I am the Messenger of your Lord' he replied, 'and have come to 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, "Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, 'It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.' " 21 ۞ So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place. 22 And the birthpangs surprised her by the trunk of the palm-tree. She said, 'Would I had died ere this, and become a thing forgotten!' 23 (The angel) Therefore called her from below her, “Do not grieve – your Lord has made a river flow below you.” 24 and shake the trunk of this palmtree it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you. 25 So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today 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 Aaron, your father was not a wicked person, nor your mother sinful!" 28 Thereupon she pointed to him. They exclaimed: "How can we talk to one who [as yet] is a little boy in the cradle?" 29 He said, 'Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. 30 "And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; 31 and [has endowed me with] piety towards my mother; and He has not made me haughty or bereft of grace. 32 “And peace is upon me the day I was born, and on the day I shall taste death, and on the day I will be raised alive.” 33 Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute. 34 It does not befit Allah to take for Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: "Be" and it is. 35 And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. 36 Then the sects have differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve in the witness of a Day Mighty! 37 How wondrous in their hearing and their sight will they be the Day they come unto Us! But today the wrong doers are in error manifest. 38 And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. 39 Indeed, it is We who will inherit the earth and whoever is on it, and to Us they will be returned. 40