Commemorate Mary in the Book. When she withdrew from her family to a place in the East 16 and kept herself in seclusion from them, whereupon We sent unto her Our angel of revelation, who appeared to her in the shape of a well-made human being. 17 Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." 18 "I am only the messenger of your Lord," he replied. "I shall bestow upon you the gift of a son endowed with purity." 19 "How can I have a son," she said, "when no man has touched me, nor am I sinful?" 20 The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a distant place. 22 And the birthpangs surprised her by the trunk of the palm-tree. She said, 'Would I had died ere this, and become a thing forgotten!' 23 He called from below to her: 'Do not sorrow, look, your Lord has provided a rivulet below you, 24 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.' " 26 And she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her). They said: O Marium! surely you have done a strange thing. 27 O sister of Harun: thy father was not a man of evil, nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 Thereupon she pointed to him. They exclaimed: "How can we talk to one who [as yet] is a little boy in the cradle?" 29 He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed 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 dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. 32 Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!' 33 SUCH WAS, in the words of truth, Jesus the son of Mary, about whose nature they so deeply disagree. 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 (Jesus had said): "Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him alone. This is the Straight Way." 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 well will they hear and see [the truth] on the Day when they come before Us! Today, however, these evildoers are obviously lost in error: 38 Warn them of the woeful day when the final decree will be issued; they are neglectful and faithless. 39 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40