Clarifying the error in the common saying: "Lawful wealth does not sink or burn."

The Shaykh : On this occasion, I say that since it is mentioned in this hadith that one may be afflicted in his wealth, you should know that what is said—that lawful wealth does not sink or burn—is not correct in light of the Shari'ah. The loss of wealth, its sinking, or its being stolen are all types of the trials that a Muslim may face, and for this he is written reward and recompense. Therefore, we should not say that lawful wealth does not sink or burn; this is the talk of ignorant people, naturally. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says in the well-known verse: The patient are also afflicted in their wealth. It does not mean that if they are afflicted in their wealth, their wealth is forbidden or acquired through unlawful means. No, there is absolutely no necessary connection between the two matters. Lawful wealth may be burned, and forbidden wealth may be preserved. All of this is a trial from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as He said: If we suppose, for example—and this is something by which many people are tested in reality, and then they do not succeed in their testing and trial—that a fire breaks out, for instance, and a shop burns down while the one next to it does not, and then the one next to that one burns down. Some people think that the one whose wealth was saved has lawful wealth, and the one whose wealth burned, whether on the right or the left, has forbidden wealth. This is not correct at all. It may be exactly the opposite. The shop that burned down may have had lawful wealth, and this is a trial from Allah. And the shop that did not burn down may have had forbidden wealth, one hundred percent, and it did not burn down; this is part of the trial through good and evil. Therefore, let no one of you think that the burning of wealth is proof that it was acquired through a forbidden path, or that its not burning is proof that it was acquired through a lawful path. None of this is consistent; it may be this way, and it may be that way.