Prophetic social sciences: toward an Islamic-based t ransformative social sciences

This article discusses of one of the most important type of social sciences developed in Indonesian context. In the midst of debate between Western secular
social sciences and Islamic social sciences, Kuntowijoyo offered a genuine yet
critical formula of social sciences. The formula called Ilmu Sosial Profetik(ISP)
attempted to build a bridge between secular social science and Islamic inclination of social science. This article describes the position of ISP in the context of
critical position of Muslim social scientists on the hegemony and domination of
Orientalist tendency in studying Islam. At the end, the author offers a conclusion
that ISP can actually be regarded as Islamic-based transformative science that
can be further developed for a genuine indigenous theory of social sciences from
the Third World.