DEMOCRATIC CALIPHATE: A RECONCILIATION OF THE CALIPHATE AND DEMOCRACY THROUGH THE LENS OF PROPHETIC SOCIAL SCIENCE

The encounter between Islam and the West has resulted in an ongoing dynamic of compromise and resistance that persists today. While there are areas of convergence between the two, their differences remain pronounced in certain fundamental aspects. One such area is their conceptualization of the state. The West advocates democracy as the prevailing global political model, whereas Islam introduces the caliphate, a political system that places divine sovereignty at its core. This dichotomy has been widely explored by scholars, intellectuals, and academics. However, few efforts have been made to reconcile these two systems through the framework of Prophetic Social Science, a paradigm of Islamic thought developed by Indonesian reformer Kuntowijoyo. This study seeks to fill that gap by employing Prophetic Social Science as an analytical tool to construct an academic and humane synthesis between the caliphate and democracy, without stripping Islam of its essential values and principles. The study addresses two central questions: What is the conceptual and thematic understanding of the caliphate in Islam? How can it be reconciled with democratic principles through the lens of Prophetic Social Science? From these questions, two hypotheses emerge: first, that the caliphate does not prescribe a fixed governmental structure, but rather embodies universal values such as justice, equality, welfare, education, and prosperity—values that are also recognized globally. Second, Prophetic Social Science, as a transformative Islamic paradigm in the contemporary era, offers a framework for articulating and implementing these values within democratic contexts.