AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. 17 Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." 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 bear a son? No man has ever touched me, nor am I of poor conduct!” 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 ۞ Then she conceived him and withdrew with him to a far-off 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 He called from below to her: 'Do not sorrow, look, your Lord has provided a rivulet 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 She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous thing. 27 Sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman!" 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 He (the baby) said: 'I am the worshiper of Allah. Allah has given me the Book 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 has made me dutiful to my mother. He has not made me oppressive, nor bereft of God's blessings. 32 "So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"! 33 Such was Jesus, the son of Mary. That is the whole truth, about which they still dispute: 34 Allah is not one to take to Himself a son. Hallowed be He! whensoever He decreeth an affair he only Saith to it: be, and it becometh. 35 And [thus it was that Jesus always said]: "Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way." 36 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. 37 How keenly would they hear and see when they come before Us then, even though today the evil-doers are lost in palpable error. 38 And warn them (O Muhammad SAW) of the Day of grief and regrets, when the case has been decided, while (now) they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. 39 For We shall inherit the earth and all that are on it. To Us, they shall return. 40