Identify the correct statements associated with Al-Biruni:
(A) He was born in Khwarizm, in present day Uzbekistan.
(B) He read the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers in Arabic translations.
(C) Traveled to the Chinese port town of Zaytun and extensively in China, going as far as Beijing.
(D) Wrote Kitab-ul-Hind, in Arabic, divided into 80 chapters on religion and philosophy, festivals, etc.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) He was born in Khwarizm, in present day Uzbekistan. Correct. Al-Biruni was born in 973 in Khwarizm, an important centre of learning, in present-day Uzbekistan.
(B) He read the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers in Arabic translations. Correct. He did not know Greek, but he was familiar with the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers, having read them in Arabic translations.
(C) Traveled to the Chinese port town of Zaytun and extensively in China, going as far as Beijing. Incorrect. This was Ibn Battuta, the fourteenth-century traveller from Morocco. He took a ship from Sumatra to Zaytun (now Quanzhou) and travelled in China as far as Beijing before returning home in 1347.
(D) Wrote Kitab-ul-Hind, in Arabic, divided into 80 chapters on religion and philosophy, festivals, etc. Correct. His Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is a voluminous text divided into 80 chapters on religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, social life and other subjects.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.1 From Khwarizm to the Punjab … Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm in present-day Uzbekistan. Khwarizm was an important centre of learning, and Al-Biruni received the best education available at the time. He was well versed in several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit. Although he did not know Greek, he was familiar with the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers, having read them in Arabic translations. In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them.… 1.2 The Kitab-ul- Hind … Al-Biruni’s Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is simple and lucid. It is a voluminous text, divided into 80 chapters on subjects such as religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures… 2.1 An early globe-trotter … He took a ship to Sumatra, and from there another ship for the Chinese port town of Zaytun (now known as Quanzhou). He travelled extensively in China, going as far as Beijing, but did not stay for long, deciding to return home in 1347.…” |