Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, 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 said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost 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: "Thus will it be. Your Lord said: 'It is easy for Me,' and that: 'We shall make him a sign for men and a blessing from Us.' This is a thing already decreed." 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she went away with him to a far place. 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 Then (a voice) called to her from below: "Grieve not; your Lord has made a rivulet gush forth right below you. 24 and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee. 25 "So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day. 26 Then she brought him (the baby) to her people, carrying him. They said: "O Mary! Indeed you have brought a thing Fariya (an unheard mighty thing). 27 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 [But] he said: "Behold, I am a servant of God. He has vouchsafed unto me revelation and made me a prophet, 30 And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live; 31 And duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 32 Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!' 33 Such is 'lsa, son of Maryam: this is the word of truth wherein they are doubting. 34 It is not for God to take a son unto Him. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing, He but says to it 'Be,' and it is. 35 [Jesus said], "And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path." 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 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 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40