A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that these were nine quotes purportedly made by Western Philosophers. These quotes state the greatness of Hindus, Hindutva, and Hinduism. Some other social media posts (here and here) shared similar quotes about Islam allegedly made by the same people as mentioned in the post. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Nine quotes about Hindutva or Islam by Western Philosophers.
Fact: There is no evidence to conclude that these quotations were made by these prominent people. In fact, the word ‘Hindutva’ had come into prominence after VD Savarkar’s “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” which was published in 1923; by which time, Leo Tolstoy and Nostradamus were already dead. We also could not find any evidence that any of these people made such remarks about Islam. Some of the people mentioned have never spoken about themselves being very religious. It would be unlikely that they would have such extreme views about any religion. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We could not find any evidence that any of these people made such remarks about Hindutva, Hindus, and Hinduism. In fact, the word ‘Hindutva’ had come into prominence after VD Savarkar’s “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” which was published in 1923; by which time, Leo Tolstoy and Nostradamus were already dead.
We also could not find any evidence that any of these people made such remarks about Islam. Some of the people mentioned have never talked about themselves being very religious. It would be unlikely that they would have such extreme views about any religion.
In fact, in 1938, a British Muslim organisation protested some writings of HG Wells as there were references to Prophet Muhammad.
To sum it up, there is no evidence to show that these lines about Hindutva or Islam were quoted by these prominent people.
