Quran — Page 306

[And when the son was born and grew up, he was told,] "O John! Hold fast unto the divine writ with [all thy] strength!" - for We granted him wisdom "while he was yet a little boy,

as well as, by Our grace, [the gift of] compassion and purity; and he was [always] conscious of Us

and full of piety towards his parents; and never was he haughty or rebellious.

Hence, [God's] peace was upon him on the day when he was born, and on the day of his death, and. will be [upon him] on the day when he shall be raised to life [again].

AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place

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.

She exclaimed: "Verily, 'I seek refuge from thee with the Most Gracious! [Approach me not] if thou art conscious of Him!"

[The angel] answered: "I' am but a messenger of thy Sustainer, [who says,] `I shall bestow upon thee the gift of a son endowed with purity.'"

Said she: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me? - for, never have I been a loose woman!"

[The angel] answered: "Thus it is; [but] thy Sustainer says, `This is easy for Me; and [thou shalt have a son,] so that We might make him a symbol unto mankind and an act of grace from US. And it was a thing decreed [by God]:

and in time she conceived him, and then she withdrew with him to a far-off place.

And [when] the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree, she exclaimed: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and had become a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!"

Thereupon [a voice] called out to her from beneath that [palm-tree]: "Grieve not! Thy Sustainer has provided a rivulet [running] beneath thee;

and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee.