And mention thou in the Book Maryam, what time she retired from her people to a place eastward. 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 She said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah." 18 He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. 19 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? 20 He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. 21 ۞ And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!" 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 Therefore eat and drink and rejoice with your eyes. If you meet any human say to him: "I have vowed a fast to the Merciful and will not speak with anyone today.' 26 And in time she returned to her people, carrying the child with her. They said: "O Mary! Thou hast indeed done an amazing thing! 27 Sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman!" 28 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" 29 "I am a servant of God," he answered. "He has given me a Book and made me a prophet, 30 And blessed me wherever I may be, and enjoined on me worship and zakat for as long as I live, 31 And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; 32 I was born with peace and I shall die and be brought to life again with peace." 33 Such was the true story of Jesus, the son of Mary, about which they dispute bitterly. 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 Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord therefore worship Him. That is the Straight 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 they will hear and see on the day they come to Us! But the evildoers even today are 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 We are the heirs of the earth and those living in it will all return to Us. 40