AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 out of her people's sight. We sent Our Spirit to her, who stood before her in the shape of a well formed human being. 17 She exclaimed: "Verily, 'I seek refuge from thee with the Most Gracious! [Approach me not] if thou art conscious of Him!" 18 He said: "I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy." 19 She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? 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, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley about 4-6 miles from Jerusalem). 22 And the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to betake herself to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten! 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 And shake towards you the trunk of the palmtree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates: 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 So carrying him in her arms, she brought him to her people; they said, “O Maryam, you have indeed committed a great evil!” 27 O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? 29 He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; 30 "And He has made me blessed wheresoever I be, and has enjoined on me Salat (prayer), and Zakat, as long as I live." 31 And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 32 “And peace is upon me the day I was born, and on the day I shall taste death, and on the day I will be raised alive.” 33 This is Eisa (Jesus), the son of Maryam; a true statement, in which they doubt. 34 It is not for Allah to take a son! Exaltations to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: 'Be' and it is. 35 [Jesus said], "And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path." 36 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful 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 thou them of the day of anguish, when the matter shall be determined, and they yet heedless and unbelieving. 39 Ultimately, We shall inherit the earth and whatever is on it; to Us shall they be returned. 40