Recount in the Book how Mary withdrew from her people to an eastern place 16 So she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man. 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: "Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son. 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; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed. 21 ۞ Thereupon she carried him, and retired to a far off place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" 23 Then (the child) called out to her from beneath her: Grieve not, surely your Lord has made a stream to flow beneath you; 24 "And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee. 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 Sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman!" 28 But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? 29 [But] he said: "Behold, I am a servant of God. He has vouchsafed unto me revelation and made me a prophet, 30 "And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; 31 "(He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable; 32 There was peace on me the day I was born, and will be the day I die, and on the day I will be raised from the dead." 33 This is Jesus, the son of Mary; and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt. 34 It does not befit Allah to take for Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: "Be" and it is. 35 And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve Him; this is the right path. 36 The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. 37 How plainly will they see and hear, the Day that they will appear before Us! but the unjust today are in error manifest! 38 Warn them of that Day of Anguish, when the matter is determined whilst heedlessly they disbelieve. 39 Verily! We will inherit the earth and whatsoever is thereon. And to Us they all shall be returned, 40