WHAT IS TAQIYAH?

Ibn Abi Zaynab writes in his al-Ghaybah:

Abd al-Wahid b. Abdullah told us that Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Rabah al-Zuhri told him that he narrated from Muhammad b. Abbas al-Hasani who narrated from Hasan b. Ali. Abi Hamzah al-Bataini who narrated from his father who narrated from Abu Basir who said: I've head Abu Jafar [Imam Muhammad b. Ali al-Baqir] saying:

There was a secret that God told Gabriel, Gabriel told this secret to Muhammad, Muhammad told this secret to Ali, Ali told this secret to whoever God wanted one after another but you blabber it on the streets.

This is the definition of taqiyah (dissimulation). Our imams forbade us from telling people their secrets. The imams were political victims of the Abbasid Empire and they didn't want us Shiite Muslims to reveal these clandestine ideologies that would probably put their lives in danger. It is like God revealed the names of the hypocrites to Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Muhammad passed down this knowledge to Hudhayfah. But Hudhayfah was forbidden from sharing this secret information with anyone. One of our imams was reported to have said:

Hudhayfah knew the names of twelve hypocrites while I know the names of twelve thousand hypocrites.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon Shiite Muslims not to divulge the secrets of Ahlul Bayt. These secrets are really not so secret anymore. I mean everyone knows we criticize some Companions of Prophet Muhammad and dislike the election of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman over Ali b. Abi Talib. What's there to hide? Our imams even forbade us from revealing the identity of our 12th Imam but now everyone knows he's Muhammad b. Hasan al-Askari. I just believe that we Shiites should focus on the future and less on the past.