(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 So there she screened herself from them; We therefore sent Our Spirit towards her – he appeared before her in the form of a healthy man. (Angel Jibreel – peace be upon him.) 17 She said: I verily seek refuge with the Compassionate from thee if thou art God-fearing. 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 She said, "How can I have a son when no man has touched me; and neither have I been unchaste?" 20 He said: even so! Thy Lord saith: it is with Me easy, and it is in order that We may make him a sign unto mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is an affair decreed. 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. 22 And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! 23 But he called her from below her, "Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. 24 And shake toward thee the trunk of the palm-tree it shall drop on thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 Therefore eat and drink and rejoice with your eyes. If you meet any human say to him: "I have vowed a fast to the Merciful and will not speak with anyone today.' 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 Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? 29 "He ['Iesa (Jesus)] said: Verily! I am a slave of Allah, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet;" 30 and has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and Zakah (purifying alms) as long as I live; 31 And duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 32 Peace be upon me on the day I was born, and on the day I die; and on the day when I shall be raised up alive' 33 This was Jesus, son of Mary: A true account they contend about. 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 (Jesus had said): "Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him alone. This is the Straight Way." 36 (The followers of Jesus) turned themselves into quarrelling sects. The disbelievers shall face a woeful condition on the great Day (of Judgment). 37 How well they will hear and see on the day they come to Us! But the evildoers even today are in error manifest. 38 Warn them of the woeful day when the final decree will be issued; they are neglectful and faithless. 39 For We shall inherit the earth and all that are on it. To Us, they shall return. 40