Assalaamu alaykum. Recently, I found a shirt that said Christmas on it. Knowing that the Christians call Prophet Jesus Christ, I cut out the 'Christ' part of Christmas and shred it apart. Was this wrong on my part? I only cut out the Christ part to not disrespect Prophet Jesus when I threw out the shirt. I fear that I committed a major sin by doing this and feel very bad. May Allaah reward you.

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, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

It is impermissible to wear clothing bearing the symbols of the disbelievers. The fatwa of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Fatwas reads, "It is not permissible to make jewelry that bears the symbols of disbelief, such as the cross and the Star of David or the like. It is not permissible to buy or sell such items." There is no doubt that Christmas is a symbol of the Christians.

Hence, it is obligatory to remove this symbol, and you did nothing wrong by cutting out that part; on the contrary you shall hopefully be rewarded for that, especially given that your intention was to prevent any disrespect for the title of Prophet ʻEesa (Jesus) i.e. Christ. Even if the name is not written in the Arabic language, some scholars held that the sacredness of letters is confirmed regardless of whether they were written in Arabic or any other language.

The commentary of Ad-Dusooqi, from the Maaliki School of jurisprudence, reads, “Shaykh Ibraaheem Al-Laqqaani said, ‘The words are sacred when the letters are written in Arabic, otherwise, there is no sacredness for them unless what was written is one of the Names of Allaah. Shaykh Ali Al-Ujhoori said, 'Letters have their sacredness whether they are written in Arabic or in another language.' ...Our Shaykh said, 'This is the preponderant opinion...’”

You may also cover such symbols of disbelief with any material by sticking something on them that hides them so as to benefit of the clothes in a lawful manner.

The fatwa of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Fatwas reads, “With regard to the mat on which there is a sign of the cross, it is disliked to pray on it except after erasing the image of the cross in a way that hides it by dying it or knitting over it or the like.”

Allaah knows best.