And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward 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: "Verily! I seek refuge with the Most Beneficent (Allah) from you, if you do fear Allah." 18 He replied: "I am only a messenger from your Lord (sent) to bestow a good son on you." 19 'How shall I bear a son' she answered, 'when I am not touched by a human and not unchaste' 20 He said: "So (it will be), your Lord said: 'That is easy for Me (Allah): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allah), and it is a matter (already) decreed, (by Allah). 21 ۞ Then she conceived him, and she retired with him to a place far-off. 22 And [when] the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree, she exclaimed: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and had become a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!" 23 But he called her from below her, "Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. 24 and if you shake the trunk of this palm-tree, it will drop fresh ripe dates on 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 She took him to her people and they said, "Mary, this is indeed an strange thing. 27 "O sister (i.e. the like) of Harun (Aaron) [not the brother of Musa (Moses), but he was another pious man at the time of Maryam (Mary)]! Your father was not a man who used to commit adultery, nor your mother was an unchaste woman." 28 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" 29 He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; 30 He made me to be blessed wherever I am, and He has charged me with prayer and charity for as long as I shall live. 31 "And dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. 32 "And Salam (peace) be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" 33 Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. 34 It is not for Allah to take a son! Exaltations to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: 'Be' and it is. 35 Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. 36 Then groups among them differed; so ruin is for the disbelievers from the witnessing of a Great Day. 37 (Muhammad), how clearly they will hear and see on the day when they will be brought into Our presence. Today the wrong doers are in manifest error. 38 (O Muhammad), warn those who are steeped in heedlessness and are obstinately rejecting the truth that the Day shall come when things will be finally decided and they shall be left with utter remorse. 39 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40