(O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; 16 Then she took beside them a curtain; then We sent unto her Our Spirit, and he took unto her the form of a human being sound. 17 (And when she saw him) she said: 'I take refuge in the Merciful from you! If you are fearful' 18 (The angel) said: "I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son." 19 Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!" 20 [The angel] replied, "So shall it be; your Lord says, 'This is easy for Me; and We shall make him a sign to people and a blessing, from Us. This has been decreed.'" 21 ۞ So she conceived him, and she went away with him to a far place. 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 Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. 24 Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. 25 Eat therefore, and drink, and be comforted; and if thou shouldst see any mortal, say, "I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man. 26 She came to her nation, carrying him; and they said: 'O Mary, you have committed a monstrous thing. 27 "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" 28 But she pointed to him. They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? 29 "He ['Iesa (Jesus)] said: Verily! I am a slave of Allah, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet;" 30 and has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and Zakah (purifying alms) as long as I live; 31 He has commanded me to be good to my parents and has not made me an arrogant rebellious person. 32 And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. 33 SUCH WAS, in the words of truth, Jesus the son of Mary, about whose nature they so deeply disagree. 34 It befits not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son [this refers to the slander of Christians against Allah, by saying that 'Iesa (Jesus) is the son of Allah]. Glorified (and Exalted be He above all that they associate with Him). When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, "Be!" and it is. 35 (Baby Jesus said), "Worship God who is my Lord as well as yours. This is the straight path". 36 But the sects differ among themselves: and woe to the unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a Momentous Day! 37 How clearly will they (polytheists and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) see and hear, the Day when they will appear before Us! But the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers) today are in plain error. 38 Warn them of that day of pining when all matters will have been settled, though they would still be unaware and unbelieving (of the truth). 39 Verily! We will inherit the earth and whatsoever is thereon. And to Us they all shall be returned, 40