The first writer to use Urdu as the medium of poetic expression was:

Answer: (a) Amir Khusrau

Of the four, only Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) lived in the Delhi Sultanate period when Urdu was taking shape from Hindavi. Ghalib, Zafar and Faiz belong to the 19th and 20th centuries.

• ✓ (a) Amir Khusrau wrote in Hindavi, the early form from which Urdu developed, and is called the father of Urdu literature.
• ✗ (b) Ghalib (1797-1869) wrote when Urdu poetry was already well established.
• ✗ (c) Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862) was the last Mughal emperor and a later Urdu poet.
• ✗ (d) Faiz Ahmed Faiz was a 20th-century poet.

Remember · Amir Khusrau, Chishti disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, is called the father of Urdu literature; Urdu grew from Hindavi.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 1999, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 1999: the answer shown is the generally accepted one, and the sources above explain the facts behind it. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error