فَأَجَاءَهَا الْمَخَاضُ إِلَىٰ جِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَا لَيْتَنِي مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَٰذَا وَكُنتُ نَسْيًا مَّنسِيًّا (23)
(19:23) Then the throes of childbirth urged her to take shelter under a date palm. There she began to cry, "Oh! would that I had died before this and sunk into oblivion. " *17
*17) The words "Would that..." show the extreme state of anxiety in which Mary found herself at the time. She did not utter these words on account of the labour pains but due to the pangs of sorrow as to how she would conceal the child from her people. The angel's words---"Grieve not at all"-explain why she had spoken these desperate words. When a married girl is delivering her first baby, she might be dying with pains, but she is never so sorrowful and grieved.