And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east. 16 And took cover from them, We sent a spirit of Ours to her who appeared before her in the concrete form of a man. 17 She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art Allah-fearing. 18 He said: "I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy." 19 "How can I have a son," she said, "when no man has touched me, nor am I sinful?" 20 He said: even so! Thy Lord saith: it is with Me easy, and it is in order that We may make him a sign unto mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is an affair decreed. 21 ۞ So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place. 22 The birth pangs led her to the trunk of a date-palm tree. "Would that I had died before this," she said, "and become a thing forgotten, unremembered." 23 But a voice called out to her from below, "Do not despair. Your Lord has provided a brook that runs at your feet, 24 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 Eat and drink, and be at peace. If you see any man, tell him: 'I have verily vowed a fast to Ar-Rahman and cannot speak to any one this day.' 26 She took him to her people and they said, "Mary, this is indeed an strange thing. 27 Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' 28 She pointed to the child. They said, "How shall we talk to someone who is a child in the cradle?" 29 "I am a servant of God," he answered. "He has given me a Book and made me a prophet, 30 and has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and Zakah (purifying alms) as long as I live; 31 "(He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable; 32 Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!' 33 That is Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, concerning which they are doubting. 34 It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: 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 have differed among themselves; so woe to those who disbelieve in the witness of a Day Mighty! 37 See and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! yet the evil-doers are today in error manifest. 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 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40