AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 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 (The angel) said: "I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son." 19 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? 20 The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " 21 ۞ So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant 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 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 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 Then she brought him to her nation carrying him. They said: Maryam! assuredly thou hast brought a thing unheard Of. 27 Aaron's sister, your father was not a bad man nor was your mother unchaste". 28 Mary pointed to the child then; but they said, 'How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?' 29 [But] he said: "Behold, I am a servant of God. He has vouchsafed unto me revelation and made me a prophet, 30 He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving throughout my life. 31 and likewise to cherish my mother; He has not made me arrogant, unprosperous. 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 Allah to take for Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: "Be" and it is. 35 God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. That is the right path. 36 Then the sects have differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve in the witness of a Day Mighty! 37 How well shall they hear and how well shall they see on the Day they come to Us! But today the evil-doers are in manifest 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 For We shall inherit the earth and all that are on it. To Us, they shall return. 40