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According to the Shiah interpretation, the Caliphate was usurped by Abu-Bakr and 'Umar and taken away from the real chosen ones, the descendants of the Prophet. With the exception of 'Ali who was Caliph from A.D. 656 to the year he was murdered, 661, Muhammad's descendants were excluded from the Caliphate and exposed to violent persecutions by the ruling dynasties. However, the Shiah have never ceased to claim that the Caliphate is a hereditary office and belongs to the natural descendants of the Prophet. According to the so-called Shiah Twelvers (the state religion of Persia since 1572), twelve descendants of Muhammad exercised their office as "Imam", an office which apart from 'Ali's five years as Caliph lacked all worldly power and was therefore a vestige of what it should have been.
(126:3)
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