Editing Islam and democracy (section)

===Shia Islam===
According to the [[Shia]] understanding, Muhammad named as his successor (as leader, with Muhammad being the [[Last prophet|final prophet]]), his son-in-law, and cousin [[Ali]]. Therefore, the first three of the four elected "Rightly Guided" Caliphs recognized by Sunnis (Ali being the fourth), are considered usurpers, notwithstanding their having been "elected" through some sort of conciliar deliberation (which the Shia do not accept as a representative of the Muslim society of that time). The largest Shia grouping—the [[Twelver]]s branch—recognizes a series of [[The Twelve Imams|Twelve Imams]], the last of which ([[Muhammad al-Mahdi]], the Hidden Imam) is still alive and the Shia are waiting for his "reappearance".