Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. 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 verily seek refuge with the Compassionate from thee if thou art God-fearing. 18 He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy. 19 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I 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 ۞ Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far off 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 the trunk of the palm-tree towards yourself and fresh and ripe dates shall fall upon you. 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 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 She pointed to the child. They said, "How shall we talk to someone who is a child in the cradle?" 29 He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation 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 dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. 32 And peace be on me the day I was born and the day I die and the day I shall be raised up alive. 33 Such was (Prophet) Jesus, the son of Mary. A saying of truth, concerning what they doubt. 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 [thus it was that Jesus always said]: "Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way." 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 And warn them, [O Muhammad], of the Day of Regret, when the matter will be concluded; and [yet], they are in [a state of] heedlessness, and they do not believe. 39 It is We Who will inherit the earth, and all beings thereon: to Us will they all be returned. 40