Part 96

We said: "O John! receive the Book with purpose of heart:"5-and We bestowed on him wisdom while yet a child;

And mercifulness from Ourself, and purity; and pious was he, and duteous to his parents; and not proud, rebellious.

And peace was on him on the day he was born, and the day of his death, and shall be on the day when he shall be raised to life!

And make mention in the Book, of Mary, when she went apart from her family, eastward,6

And took a veil to shroud herself from them:7 and we sent our spirit8 to her, and he took before her the form of a perfect man.9

She said: "I fly for refuge from thee to the God of Mercy! If thou fearest Him, begone from me."

He said: "I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a holy son."

She said: "How shall I have a son, when man hath never touched me? and I am not unchaste."

He said: "So shall it be. Thy Lord hath said: 'Easy is this with me;' and we will make him a sign to mankind, and a mercy from us. For it is a thing decreed."

And she conceived him,10 and retired with him to a far-off place.

And the throes came upon her11 by the trunk of a palm. She said: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and been a thing forgotten, forgotten quite!"

And one cried to her from below her:12 "Grieve not thou, thy Lord hath provided a streamlet at thy feet:-

And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee:13 it will drop fresh ripe dates upon thee.

Eat then and drink, and be of cheerful eye:14 and shouldst thou see a man,

Say,-Verily, I have vowed abstinence to the God of mercy.-To no one will I speak this day."

Then came she with the babe to her people, bearing him. They said, "O Mary! now hast thou done a strange thing!

O sister of Aaron!15 Thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor unchaste thy mother."

And she made a sign to them, pointing towards the babe. They said, "How shall we speak with him who is in the cradle, an infant?"

It said,16 "Verily, I am the servant of God; He hath given me the Book, and He hath made me a prophet;

And He hath made me blessed wherever I may be, and hath enjoined me prayer and almsgiving so long as I shall live;

And to be duteous to her that bare me: and he hath not made me proud, depraved.

And the peace of God was on me the day I was born, and will be the day I shall die, and the day I shall be raised to life."

This is Jesus, the son of Mary; this is a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt.

It beseemeth not God to beget a son. Glory be to Him! when he decreeth a thing, He only saith to it, Be, and it Is.17

And verily, God is my Lord and your Lord; adore Him then. This is the right way.

But the Sects have fallen to variance among themselves about Jesus: but woe, because of the assembly of a great day, to those who believe not!

Make them hear, make them behold the day when they shall come before us! But the offenders this day are in a manifest error.

Warn them of the day of sighing when the decree shall be accomplished, while they are sunk in heedlessness and while they believe not.