Wearing clothes bearing sentences with missing letters

29-11-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

If there is a sentence [wording] on a clothing, for example 'mountain clothes', and some of the wording is cut off and it says 'ountain clothe', is it permissible to wear such clothes? I am asking because when the sentence is cut off, the words might mean something else. If I have clothing with sentences that are cut off, can I just hold the intention that these are just letters and nothing more?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If some letters are removed from a word, it may mean a correct meaning and it may not mean anything, and it may mean a forbidden meaning, such as a slogan of the disbelievers or a name of one of their gods, or it may carry an ugly or obscene meaning.

Therefore, the ruling on wearing clothing that includes such letters depends on different circumstances. If it indicates a correct meaning or it does not mean anything, then it is permissible to wear it. And if it indicates a forbidden meaning, then it becomes forbidden to wear it, and if it indicates an ugly meaning, it is disliked to wear it.

In the last two cases – we mean the case when it is prohibited or disliked – then considering them just like letters does not change the ruling.

This is our view on this matter, and Allah is the One Who guides to correctness.

Allah knows best.