Say: “I am not the first of [God's] apostles;* and [like all of them,] I do not know what will be done with me or with you: for I am nothing but a plain warner."*

And thereupon We caused [other of] Our apostles to follow in their footsteps; and [in the course of time] We caused them to be followed by Jesus, the son of Mary, upon whom We bestowed the Gospel;* and in the hearts of those who [truly] followed him We engendered compassion and mercy. But as for monastic asceticism -* We did not enjoin it upon them: they invented it themselves out of a desire for God's goodly acceptance.* But then, they did not [always] observe it as it ought to have been observed:* and so We granted their recompense unto such of them as had [truly] attained to faith, whereas many of them became iniquitous.*

The Originator is He of the heavens and the earth: and when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, "Be" -and it is.

the Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could it be that He should have a child without there ever having been a mate for Him - since it is He who has created everything, and He alone knows everything?