Correct: The answer is d. According to Al-Biruni, it was the duty of kings and princes to offer financial support to scholars, thereby freeing their minds from “the daily anxieties for the necessities of life.” Since, in Al-Biruni’s view, the kings and princes of his day failed to support scholarship as they should, science had been reduced to the “scanty remains of bygone better times.”
Incorrect: The answer is d. According to Al-Biruni, it was the duty of kings and princes to offer financial support to scholars, thereby freeing their minds from “the daily anxieties for the necessities of life.” Since, in Al-Biruni’s view, the kings and princes of his day failed to support scholarship as they should, science had been reduced to the “scanty remains of bygone better times.”
Who did Al-Biruni blame for the lack of scientific progress during his own age (see Document 12.2)?