And mention thou in the Book Maryam, what time she retired from her people to a place eastward. 16 She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects. 17 She said: "Verily! I seek refuge with the Most Beneficent (Allah) from you, if you do fear Allah." 18 He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy." 19 She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? 20 "Even so" he replied, "as such your Lord has said: 'Easy it is for Me. And We shall make him a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us. It is a matter decreed.'" 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she went away with him to a far 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 (The angel) Therefore called her from below her, “Do not grieve – your Lord has made a river flow below you.” 24 Shake the trunk of the date-palm tree, and it will drop ripe dates for you. 25 “Therefore eat and drink and appease your eyes; so if you meet any person then say, ‘I have pledged a fast (of silence) to the Most Gracious – I will therefore not speak to any person today.’” 26 She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous thing. 27 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste." 28 Then she pointed to him. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" 29 He said, "I am the servant of God. He has given me the Book and has appointed me to be a Prophet. 30 He made me to be blessed wherever I am, and He has charged me with prayer and charity for as long as I shall live. 31 And duteous unto my mother, and hath not made me high-handed, unblest. 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 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 And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve Him; this is the right path. 36 Then the factions differed [concerning Jesus] from among them, so woe to those who disbelieved - from the scene of a tremendous Day. 37 How sharp of hearing, how sharp of sight they will be when they come to Us. But today, these evil-doers are obviously lost in error. 38 Warn them of that Day of Anguish, when the matter is determined whilst heedlessly they disbelieve. 39 Surely We shall inherit the earth and all that are upon it, and unto Us they shall be returned. 40