Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 and kept herself in seclusion from them. We sent her Our angel, who presented himself to her as a full-grown human being. 17 When she saw him, she said, "I seek refuge in the compassionate God from you; [do not come near] if you fear the Lord." 18 "I am only the messenger of your Lord," he replied. "I shall bestow upon you the gift of a son endowed with purity." 19 She said, 'How shall I have a son whom no mortal has touched, neither have I been unchaste?' 20 He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed. 21 ۞ She conceived the child and retreated with him to a distant and solitary 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 date-palm tree, and it will drop ripe dates for you. 25 So eat and drink thou, and cool thine eyes; and if thou beholdest the human beings anyone, say: verily I have vowed to the Compassionate a fast, so I shall not speak today to any human being. 26 She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous 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 But she pointed to the babe. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 He Said: verily I am a bondman of Allah; He hath vouchsafed me the Book and made me a prophet. 30 And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, 31 And duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 32 “And peace is upon me the day I was born, and on the day I shall taste death, and on the day I will be raised alive.” 33 Such was the true story of Jesus, the son of Mary, about which they dispute bitterly. 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 had said): "Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him alone. This is the Straight Way." 36 Then the sects differed [i.e. the Christians about 'Iesa (Jesus)], so woe unto the disbelievers [those who gave false witness by saying that 'Iesa (Jesus) is the son of Allah] from the meeting of a great Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection, when they will be thrown in the blazing Fire). 37 How well they will hear and see on the Day when they come before Us! The evildoers are today in clear error. 38 Warn thou them of the day of anguish, when the matter shall be determined, and they yet heedless and unbelieving. 39 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40