(Muhammad), tell them, "If you love God, follow me. God will love you and forgive your sins. God is All-forgiving and All-merciful." 31 Say: 'Obey God, and the Messenger.' But if they turn their backs, God loves not the unbelievers. 32 ۞ God had chosen Adam and Noah and the families of Abraham and 'Imran in preference to others. 33 Offspring, one of the other, and Allah is the All-Hearer, All-Knower. 34 When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! surely I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore from me, surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. 35 So when she brought forth, she said: My Lord! Surely I have brought it forth a female-- and Allah knew best what she brought forth-- and the male is not like the female, and I have named it Marium, and I commend her and her offspring into Thy protection from the accursed Shaitan. 36 Her Lord received the child with gracious favour, and by His goodness she grew up comely, Zachariah taking charge of her. Whenever Zachariah went in to her in the Sanctuary, he found her provisioned. 'Mary,' he said, 'how comes this to thee?' 'From God,' she said. Truly God provisions whomsoever He will without reckoning. 37 Then Zechariah prayed to his Lord: 'O Lord! Grant me from Yourself out of Your grace the gift of a goodly offspring, for indeed You alone heed all Prayers.' 38 Then the angels said to him as he stood in the chamber at prayer: "God sends you good tidings of John who will confirm a thing from God and be noble, continent, and a prophet, and one of those who are upright and do good." 39 He said, "How can there be a son for me when I am already senile and my wife is barren." The angel replied, "God does as He wills." 40 [Zachariah] prayed: "O my Sustainer! Appoint a sign for me!" Said [the angel]: "Thy sign shall be that for three days thou wilt not speak unto men other than by gestures. And remember thy Sustainer unceasingly, and extol His limitless glory by night and by day." 41