The Sunni/Shia split was originally about Democracy vs Hereditary Monarchy

I've said before in my criticism of Neo-Con foreign policy that I feel it is inherently a mistake to try and force Western Democracy on the Islamic World.

But I do not want anyone thinking that means I think Democracy is incompatible with Islam.  In fact Democracy has been part of Islam from the beginning.

The split between the Sunnis and the Shiites was ORIGINALLY based on the Sunni view that a Caliph should be elected by the people and his ancestry doesn't matter.  As opposed to the Shia view that Ali ibn Abi Talib as a close relative and Son in Law of Muhammad inherited Muhammad's authority.

The Greek historian Theophanus does not call Muawiyah a king or an emperor, but rather a 'primus inter pares', or in Greek, a protosymboulos, "a first among equals", in the midst of his 'symboulioi'. Theophanus also referred to Umar ibn al-Khattab as "Primus inter pares".  Bewley 2002, p. 53.

I've already done a post on The Bible's view of Monarchy.  So on this issue I feel inclined to prefer the Sunni position.

I say "Originally", because this got distorted over time.  With many Muslims identifying as Sunni or Shia based on where they live or their family rather then an actual opinion on the original dispute.  And also further complicated by various sub-sects emerging within each major sect.

So today we have Shia countries that seemingly value Democracy to some degree, like Iran.  And Sunni monarchs who claim descent from the exact same family the original Shias favored, the descendants of Ali and Fatimah.  Like the modern Jordanian Royal Family (for whom the claimed descent is pretty legit) and the leader of I.S.I.S. (who's claim is probably B.S.).

The Shia highly revere Ali, but the Sunni don't dislike Ali.  Ali and Uthman both engaged in the same fallacy as Justinian and many other Christian emperors of Rome.  They wanted "Unity" in their nations, and concluded the way to achieve that was to make everyone agree.  True Unity comes from accepting disagreements.

Democracy is not incompatible with Islam, especially not Sunni Islam.