What do you guys think? Are we being unfair to shia?
No we are not بارك الله فيك:
1) Taqiyyah with the Shi'a does not have to be in a state of Daroorah. Our scholars deferentiate between daroora and haajah. Daroora is when there is no possible alternative, such as when a person is starving and will die and there isn't any food around except for pork, while a haaja is a need, but there are alternatives. For Shi'as, they use taqiyyah even when their lives is not in danger; i.e. whenever they give da'wah or explain their religion to their opponents (sunnis and zaydis).
2) If our concept was the same, then you would see Sunnis practicing taqiyyah in Iran, Yemen and even the secular states. Heck, most of us live in the west where they are practically outlawing Islam and we still don't hide what we believe.
3) Shi'as believe that Taqiyyah is an asl in their madhhab which cannot be left until the Madhi comes. Meaning, you cannot leave taqiyyah as it is a fundamental part of the faith. However, Sunnis do leave taqiyyah even when their lives is at stake. Take Ahmad bin Hanbal as a perfect example. During his time, the government was persecuting the Sunni scholars and forcing them to adopt the views of the Mu'tazilah. Most of our scholars in Baghdad (where this fitnah was happening) decided to keep quite on the issue. They didn't public come out and state that they believed the Qur'an was created; but they didn't come out openly and say they didn't either. Imam Ahmad رحمه الله decided that he wasn't going to hid his belief because he felt the VIEWS OF AHL AS-SUNNAH WOULD BE LOST IF HE PRACTICED TAQIYYAH!! How different is this from the Shi'i view?
والله تعالى أعلى وأعلم