AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 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 exclaimed: "Verily, 'I seek refuge from thee with the Most Gracious! [Approach me not] if thou art conscious of Him!" 18 He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy. 19 Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!" 20 [The angel] answered: "Thus it is; [but] thy Sustainer says, 'This is easy for Me; and [thou shalt have a son,] so that We might make him a symbol unto mankind and an act of grace from US. And it was a thing decreed [by God]: 21 ۞ Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far off place. 22 Then the birth-pangs drave her to the trunk of a palm-tree; she said: would that I had died afore this and become forgotten, lost in oblivion! 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 toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. 25 Eat and drink and rejoice. And if you see any human being say, 'I have vowed a fast [of silence] to the Gracious God, and will not speak with any human being today.'" 26 And she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her). They said: O Marium! surely you have done a strange thing. 27 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste." 28 Thereupon she pointed towards the child; they said, “How can we speak to an infant who is in the cradle?” 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed 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 dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. 32 And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive." 33 Such is 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). (it is) a statement of truth, about which they doubt (or dispute). 34 it does not befit the majesty of God that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! He is far above that: when He decrees something, He says only, "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 (The followers of Jesus) turned themselves into quarrelling sects. The disbelievers shall face a woeful condition on the great Day (of Judgment). 37 How plainly will they see and hear, the Day that they will appear before Us! but the unjust today are in error manifest! 38 Warn them of that Day of Anguish, when the matter is determined whilst heedlessly they disbelieve. 39 It is We Who will inherit the earth, and all beings thereon: to Us will they all be returned. 40