All births and deaths work within this framework in order to take their part

1. Do the appointed times of death (ajal) of people who die en masse in natural disasters come to all of them at the same time? . . . And He knows all that is on land and in the sea; and not a leaf falls but He knows it; and neither is there a grain in the earth's deep darkness, nor anything living or dead, but is recorded in His clear Decree. (An'am 6:59)

2. In the flow of time and existence, the difference between a beginning and an end is almost impossible to tell. Every thing that is can be likened to a drop of water which, absorbed by the earth, becomes invisible. • All beginnings imply their ends; all comings in are the first point of all goings out. He that has no beginning has no end, and that One is God, Who is Eternal.

3. It is God Who governs all beings that come into existence within time and He it is Who decrees each individual destiny. He in Himself is free of all increasing and diminishing, of all compounding and decompounding, and of birth and death. He is the One Who creates and administers all times, past, present and future. Nothing is that is not under His sovereignty, disposal and power. Therefore, it is not correct to attribute any occurrences to nature alone, without making reference to God, as if to imply that such occurrences are merely natural, that they just happen without Divine Decree. Things are allowed the right to exist only by an Eternal Will and All Mighty Decree, together with the assignment to each of a particular task or service. All creatures, animate or inanimate, come into existence only to serve as mirrors which display the might, power, knowledge and beauty of the One Creator; then, after the appointed time, they are dismissed from the service and give way to newcomers.

4. All beginnings imply their ends; all comings in are the first point of all goings out. He that has no beginning has no end, and that One is God, Who is Eternal. It is God Who governs all beings that come into existence within time and He it is Who decrees each individual destiny. He in Himself is free of all increasing and diminishing, of all compounding and decompounding, and of birth and death. • He is the One Who creates and administers all times, past, present and future. Nothing is that is not under His sovereignty, disposal and power. Therefore, it is not correct to attribute any occurrences to nature alone, without making reference to God, as if to imply that such occurrences are merely natural, that they just happen without Divine Decree. Things are allowed the right to exist only by an Eternal Will and All Mighty Decree, together with the assignment to each of a particular task or service. All creatures, animate or inanimate, come into existence only to serve as mirrors which display the might, power, knowledge and beauty of the One Creator; then, after the appointed time, they are dismissed from the service and give way to newcomers

5. All births and deaths work within this framework in order to take their part in this display and to be tested by means thereof. Coming into existence out of nothing indicates the existence of an Unseen Being, and completion of the service and, after a time, dismissal from it, indicate the eternity and the immortality of that Eternal Being Who is not constrained by past or future. Our seeing, hearing and knowing lead the mind to the One Who sees, hears and know all our actions. Our completion of service and thereafter departing this world likewise lead the mind to the Unseen One Who, in contrast, neither enters the creation as we do, nor departs it never to return as we do: He who created death and life, that He may try which of you is best in deed (Mulk 67:2).

6. It is possible to say many things to give some notion of the power of the Creator, in order to enable some grasp of what "All Mighty" means, but it is very difficult to give an exact idea or analogy for it. • Every creature needs energy which in its visible form is light. Every creature depends in some way on the sun to exist and does so in harmony with every other and with the best result. The plant forms achieve their colorful diversity and splendor with the sunlight, and flourish and sink back with sunrise and sunset. Similarly, they all thrive in the spring, bloom in the summer, and fade away in the autumn, enjoying the same destiny harmoniously. Everything comes into existence and its existence is sustained within an all encompassing, omniscient and omnipotent Will and Plan. Nothing can exist outside of this Divine Decree: . . . And He knows all that is on land and in the sea; and not a leaf falls but He knows it; and neither is there a grain in the earth's deep darkness, nor anything living or dead, but is recorded in His clear Decree (An'am 6:59

7. Every being that enters existence, whether alone or en masse with others, and then lives until the time for its death appointed in the Record, is commissioned to comprehend the secrets of its primordial nature (fitra), to explore the unseen beauties beyond nature, to become a mirror and interpreter to the Creator of the whole. And it may be dismissed from this service, as it entered into it, either singly or en masse. Such fore knowing and registering of life, and putting an end to it, is very easy for the Creator. Moreover, God reveals that around each human being there are many angels whose commission is to take souls—in addition to the many other angels with different commissions.

8. One may ask: Why do some innocent people die in disasters along with others who may have deserved such a fate? Such a question arises from false reasoning and an error in belief. If life were only the life in this world, if this world were the first and the last resort of life, that question might be considered a quite sensible and reasonable one. But if this world is a preparing ground and ante chamber, and the world to come is the fruit and harvest of this one, and a place of rest and felicity, free of toil and hardship, then the question is an aimless one. Given the reality of the life to come, it is not unnatural that good and bad, or righteous and sinner, die together at the same instant in this world. On the contrary, it is quite reasonable and logical for it to be so. For each individual will be resurrected and give an account for what each did, and be chastised or rewarded according to intentions and deeds.

9. In sum, death and its time mark the end of life and service in this world. That period of life and its end conform to a pre ordained plan which, taking human free will into account, is written and stored in the Record. And the Record comes into force whenever its time is due, according to the will and command of the All Hearing and All Seeing. There is no difference of principle between whether death comes to a person separately or en masse with others.