What is the difference between Decree and Predestination, are they interchangeable? Please give examples to illustrate.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The scholars differed into two groups with regard to the difference between the terms Decree and Predestination.

The first group is of the view that there is no difference between Decree and Predestination, and that they are interchangeable; if one of them is used, it includes the other. This is the most preponderant opinion for many reasons:

1-     Those who differentiated between the two terms have no evidence from the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of the Prophet which confirms this view.

2-      The two terms were used interchangeably in texts; this proves that there is no difference in meaning between them.

3-     There is no benefit in such distinction, as there is an agreement among the scholars that these terms are interchangeable. Therefore, there is no harm in defining one term with the meaning of the other.

The second group of scholars distinguished between the terms Decree and Predestination, but much disagreed about clarifying this difference. The best difference they came up with is that Predestination refers to what took place in the past and Decree refers to what will take place in the future.

Allaah Knows best.