A man from Khorasan (a city in Iran) suggested to Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (the sixth leader for the Shia and the grandson of the prophet Muhammad) to make an armed campaign as the Imam had with him 100,000 followers. In order to test the man's quality of faith, the Holy Imam said:
Just get down into this burning oven.
He, the man, became so hesitant to obey the command of the Holy Imam. Meanwhile, a person came and greeted the Imam and the Holy Imam said to him:
Will you get down into this burning oven!?
That man, without any hesitation and with pleasure, got in to the burning oven. The Holy Imam then said to that Khorasanian man,
We have with us a few of those men who can get in to the burning oven on our command. Others are not real Shia. There is a lot of difference between ones words and deeds.
(Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, page 139)
It is to be noted that the man who got into the burning oven remained unaffected and was well and hearty just like the Prophet when he was thrown in to the burning fire.
Talk about faith! Can we really do something like that? If Imam Mahdi (the 12th leader for the Shia) came out right now and told us to jump into a burning flame could we do it? I'm sure we can say yes now but in reality we would be hesitant.
What is tricky to people these days is the outer faith some people think that looking pious from the outside makes them a religious person. If so, then we’ve got a lot coming our way on the Day of Judgment, things that we wished were 100 miles away from us. These types of people are on the wrong path, the wrong belief, and absolutely the false Shia. Better yet these types of people have a name. Their names are Hypocrites: people who put on a false appearance of religion.
God says in the Holy Quran:
“And of the people (are some) who say, we believe in God and the Last Day of Judgment, (while in fact) they are not believers (at all).” (2: 8)
