[Pooya/Ali Commentary 19:23] (see commentary for verse 16) The birth pangs led her to the trunk of a date-palm tree. It is said that it was a barren tree but as soon as she rested herself on its trunk it became green and new leaves and fruit grew on its naked branches. A similar miracle was seen by all when, while migrating from Makka to Madina, the Holy Prophet rested upon the trunk of a barren tree on a road side. The leaves of the tree were used by the sick to cure their different ailments. Maryam was worried about the whispering campaign the people would start when they would come to know that she gave birth to a child without being married. They would not believe the truth that the holy ghost caused her conception. Overcome with shame and pain she cried: "Would that I had died before this and become a thing forgotten, lost in oblivion!"