The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s6.58

c13.s6.58

Alberuni was convinced that "misrepresentation" (Vol. I. p. 5) was "much in fashion among those who undertake the task of giving an account of religious and philosophical systems from which they slightly differ or to which they are entirely opposed." While examining the manner in which he classifies the "misreporters" and liars about other nations we are easily reminded of another great Moslem scholar, Abul Fazl, who nearly six centuries later analyzed the causes of intolerance and prejudices of races against one another. It is interesting that two of the greatest intellectuals of the Moslem world were inspired by the selfsame ideal, namely, the love of truth as well as the desire to rescue the Moslem conception about Hindu culture from hearsay as well as secondhand information. Not less significant is the fact that in attempting to be "objective" narrators of a "simple historic record of facts" both have exhibited their pro-Hindu leanings, although, of course, Alberuni's propaganda in favour of the Hindu achievements does not verge on the almost hundred per cent identification of Abul Fazl, the "Hindusthani Shaikh," with the fortunes of his countrymen.