Surah art!

Hope you like it! i created it myself on paint!

Macbeth- what role do the witches play in Macbeth?

Bismillah arahman araheem

Ok, well here is my essay on the witches in Macbeth. I got the highest grade ever in this mashallah, and it was the highlight of my academic career-well has been so far...mashallah. It is the first ever A* i have had in my life and so means alot to me, so i want to share it. I hope you like it inshallah.

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Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1603 for king James 1’s pleasure. William Shakespeare knew of James 1’s curiosity in witchcraft and so to please James I, he revolved the play about witches so that it was more than appealing to the king. This is why witchcraft and violence are both huge contributors to the play. Macbeth is a play that conveys violence with its graphic images of treason and murder. James I holds a personal interest in witchcraft and has himself written three books about them, one being ‘Demonology’ in 1603. The witches in Macbeth play a major role in the drama for this reason. They can predict the future with their familiars and vanish like we are shown at the beginning of the play. The witches also relate to the moral, religious, social and historical aspects of the play. By studying them, you can begin to understand the extent of Shakespeare’s originality and apprehension along with James I fascination with witchcraft. At the time when this play was written, there was a big problem in society with witchcraft, which continued to develop in to a real social crisis.

James 1’s interest in witchcraft was evident by his writing of several books on the subject. In 1604, witchcraft became punishable through many cruel and unusual methods, such as being hanged, or even worse, being sawed. Other horrible punishments were popular, such as the Heretics fork which was a fork shaped metal, which was screwed to the person’s neck, and this fork would stay there for a few days and then the person would be paraded on the streets to be humiliated and had missiles thrown at them.

A witch was portrayed as a very powerful and ugly creature. The Elizabethan people were very superstitious and so when they saw a person, usually female, doing something strange, she was considered a witch. James 1 was convinced that witches were evil especially since he said that a witch called Agnis Tompson had tried to kill him. That woman confessed herself that she tried to kill him by shipwreck off the coast of Scotland and that the king would have not survived if his faith had not prevailed. On his way back to Scotland, the king’s ship experienced bad weather whilst the others did not and so he ordered seven witches including Agnis Tompson to be burnt at the stake and because of this, parliament passed an act which would punish anyone found practising witchcraft.

Shakespeare’s ideas for Macbeth went back as far as Plato and Aristotle’s, where he used the ideas in one of his third longest tragedies ‘Troilus and Cressida’ (3496 pages) which is about the Trojan war where Ulysses( a Greek commander in ‘Troilus and Cressida’) described the order of the universe as being like a “ladder”. Ulysses hinted at the chaos that results from disturbing the ‘natural’ order of things. This ‘natural’ order of things is disturbed in Macbeth when Macbeth kills King Duncan because the ‘natural’ order of things includes the ‘great chain of being’.

The ‘great chain of being’ is a metaphor for the divinity of the lord who ranks everything in order of perfection with God himself being first. In the 17th and 18th Century the ‘great chain of being’ was taken very seriously. This is where the ‘divine rights of kings’ came from. The king was considered high up in the rankings of perfection and so he was hypothetically god’s representative. The ‘great chain of being’ believes in the right order of things which is only disturbed by bad deeds, in this case, the killing of King Duncan. The belief was and still maybe is that the ‘great chain of being’ includes everything, absolutely everything, from birds to plants and even witches who were at the bottom of the chain along with the devil. The witches are an evil personification of the devil.

Witches looked hideous and weren’t considered human like. They were seen as old, wrinkly skinned, dried lipped creatures whose chins met their knees. As well as looking revolting, they also possessed many powers as said in James 1 book, ’Demonology’,
“They can raise storms and tempest in the air either upon sea or land, though not universally, but in such prescribed bounds as god will permit them”.
This is witnessed by the audience because before the witches enter any scene in Macbeth, there is always “Thunder and Lightening”. The thunder and lightening represent the evil and destruction that the witches bring about whence raising storms, not just in the terms of weather but also as in the way of raising chaos in the world. We also see that regardless of the witch’s influences, Banquo doesn’t become influenced because he is pious and so God does not let the witches powers take over Banquo because Banquo trusts the Lord. The power of faith is shown here.
This may even have made the audience feel that they need to turn to God otherwise they might end up with a bad or worse fate than Macbeth.

Macbeth’s character is as an honoured and valiant Scottish warrior who has just won his greatest battle and the title of Thane of Cawdor. Unfortunately, shortly after the battle, he meets three evil witches who plant the seed of ambition in his soul when they predict he will become the King of Scotland. This seed of purpose grew in Macbeth and he committed crimes as a means to protect himself from being founded and in this he kills Duncan and his dear friend Banquo. Banquo explained to Macbeth that sometimes witches, using equivocation and prophecies, turn humans bad.
“But tis strange,
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequences.”
When he becomes king, Scotland becomes chaotic and he looses the plot when in the climax of the play, he sees apparitions at the banquet. He starts to talk to himself; fore he can no longer hide his guilt, “"Thou canst say I did it." This play ends naturally when Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm takes his rightfully owned crown on the throne of Scotland.

The witches play a major role in Macbeth. They can vanish and predict. They are like apparitions. We are shown the witches powers at the beginning of the play where firstly the atmosphere is described as dangerous through the weather, so already we are told that something bad is about to happen, “Thunder and lightning, Enter three witches”. That was just the beginning sentence to the play which must have had the audiences curious. We are shown that they can predict,
“Where the place
Upon the heath
There to meet Macbeth”.
Now we know that Macbeth is damned from the start. The witches then begin to chant in confusing and vague language and Macbeth is mentioned again and the audiences anticipation grows stronger and they get introduced to Macbeth through the line, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen” Act 1 scene 3. This repetition of the witch’s last words by Macbeth shows us that he is already, though he is not aware of it, connected with the witches,
“Fair is foul and foul is fair
Hover through the fog and filthy air”.


At the start of scene three again there is thunder which shows us that the witches are evil, dramatic and dangerous like the thunder. To the witches all good is disgusting and all evil is attractive, storm and foul weather make the most complimentary setting for their work. The witches wickedness is all apparent through the activities they get up to in their spare time by collecting momentums and getting rid of the believers (in god) relatives,
“Here I have a pilots thumb”, and
“He shall live a man forbid” and “killing swine”.

As well as passing their time with getting up to evil and appalling things, we are also told of the witches appearances by Banquo who is a close friend of Macbeths. The Weird Sisters are described as not even looking like women at all in his description. They are so skinny and unfeminine that on seeing them Banquo says,
“So withered and so wild in their attire
That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth
Choppy finger lying
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret”.

The witches were instructed and many controlled by familiars or imps who took the form of animals, mainly of cats, some dogs, toads or ravens. The familiars helped the witches to see in to the future. Familiars had weird names like Newes, Ilemauzar, Pyewackett and many more. In Act four, scene 1, the witches enter the stage when there is thunder. They start chanting in rhymes whilst circling a cauldron as in a witch’s Sabbath (a midnight meeting of witches to practice witchcraft and sorcery; in the Middle Ages it was supposed to be a demonic orgy.)
As the witches walked around, they would throw in such ghoulish things like,
“Eye of Newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind- worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlets wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell- broth, boil and bubble”.
The witches are stirring in all there ghastly ingredients for a spell to cause chaos. The witches use a familiar in this scene called Harpier who cries to them that it is time to make up the spell because the “cat hath mewed” and the “hedge- pig whined”,
“ Harpier cries ‘Tis time, ‘Tis time”.
Whence telling the audience that familiars really can tell the future if they know that it is time to stir up the spell. The audience at this point are bound to be disgusted yet amazed.

If noticed then it is obvious that the witches speak in trochaic metre which is varied. This gives their speech the effect of an incantation and distinguishes it from the largely iambic speech of other characters.

Ultimately the witches’ role in the play Macbeth is too great and deep but I hope I have got the message across that the weird sisters are the backbone of the play. It is because of the influence of their spells and evil magic that the play ends with such tragic consequences. I have enjoyed reading this play and understanding it and James I would have as well. I have written this essay with as much enthusiasm as I could and I anticipate that the reader will also enjoy reading this essay.

Kashmir Conflict - Who is right, India or Pakistan?

Bismillah arahman araheem

This is not my work, it is from a googled article, but i liked it so much and i agree quite alot and so i thought it would be worth you all reading it inshallah, so please do. I hope you can benefit inshallah.

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One of the most intractable and long standing conflicts in the world is the conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. This conflict started in 1947, on the day after India and Pakistan simultaneously became independent. Three major wars have been fought over this and thousands and perhaps even more than a million people have died. The result so far is that India controls almost two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan controls one-third. China controls the rest. The conflict continues.

I and, I believe, most scholars who have studied this issue feel that Pakistan has the stronger case. However, India has more people and therefore more who advocate their point of view.
I have never read a cogent, logical explanation from anybody taking the Indian side until I received a letter from somebody in India a few days ago. Therefore, I have decided to post my view and his view and ask readers to write me their opinions.

Briefly stated, when British India was given its independence, India was supposed to be divided into two countries: India and Pakistan. All areas which were more than 70% Muslim were suppose to go into Pakistan. The rest would be India. However, the "princely states" would be left to decide on their own. They could join Pakistan or India or they could remain independent.

The way I am directly concerned with this issue is that my wife was from the Princely State of Chitral, which is in the extreme Northwest corner of what is now Pakistan. The rulers of Chitral were for a time not sure if they wanted to join Pakistan or India. Eventually, they came to be considered part of Pakistan, but retained their autonomy. The princes continued to rule. However, on January 1, 1971, the rule by the Prince of Chitral was abolished by the Government of Pakistan. This was a popular move, as the long suffering people of Chitral had gotten fed up with their princes. The princes were not entirely unhappy either, because they were given some money and minor positions in the Government of Pakistan. The Prince of Chitral is still in the Foreign Service of Pakistan to this day. Older people in Chitral still say "I am going to Pakistan" when they are going there. Although the matter of Chitral was resolved peacefully, in neighboring Kashmir, there was immediate war.

According to the Indians, Pathan troublemakers from the Northwest Frontier (places like Chitral and Peshawar) were causing riots and agitation in Kashmir. As a result, the Maharaja of Kashmir joined India and requested the assistance of the Indian Army. The Indian Army arrived immediately, the same day, and Pakistan attacked the next day.

Thus, according to the Indians, India has the right to all of Kashmir. When Pakistan built a road to China known as the Karakorum Highway, India protested to the United Nations and everywhere else that a road was being built across "their territory" without their permission.
However, Pakistan has a different view. The "Pathan agitators" were not from Peshawar. Rather, they were local Kashmiris who did not want to be part of India. Furthermore, the Maharaja of Kashmir had no right to call in the Indian Army, because the Maharaja of Kashmir was not a heredity ruler. He was merely a British appointee. There had been no such position as the "Maharaja of Kashmir" prior to British rule. Finally, the agreement was that any areas more than 70% Muslim would go to Pakistan. Kashmir has more than 90% Muslims and therefore clearly should have been part of Pakistan.

The main reason why I and most others take the Pakistan side is that numerous polls have been taken of the people of Indian Kashmir. Every one of these polls has had a similar result. Some want an independent Kashmir. Some (usually slightly fewer) want to join Pakistan. Almost none at all want to stay in India. The few who do want to stay in India are recent arrivals, primarily Hindus, who do not have long heredity links to Kashmir.

Nobody on the Pakistan side of Kashmir wants to join India, but a few would like to have independence.

Such matters are often determined by economics. Pakistan has a much higher standard of living and the people are financially better off there than they are in India.
Finally, I must add that the British were at fault for not resolving this issue before pulling out in 1947.

Ismail Sloan

Nelson Mandela vs De Klerk

Bismillah arahman araheem

This is just an essay i wrote for history on Mandela vs De Klerk, 'who made the most fundamental contributions to bringing about the end of Apartheid', so i just decided to share it with you all. I will most probably next post up my Macbeth one because i got an A* for that :D. Anyway, i hope you like my essay inshallah and feel free to comment please!

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Mandela made the fundamental contributions i think. It is he who took the struggle and to the stages where it mattered. His determination and loyalty for a free and equal South Africa were and are inspiring. He kept steady with the ANC, even when the movement was banned. In 1962, he slipped out of South Africa to other countries to gain support. He took the risk, even though when he returned he was arrested for minor offences. He was sent to Robben Island, a prison offshore Cape Town. During The Rivonia Trial, he read out his 'statement', which is renowned as 'The Dream'. He got life imprisonment at Robben Island. Regardless of the fact that his cell was just seven feet square: his bed was a mat on the floor and light came from a 40 watt bulb! he lived through it. In his biography, Mandela tells us how he remembered the experience of the negotiations going on for 5 hours about his release, for him it was “a conflict between my blood and my brains”. Here we see the mental struggle Mandela was going through, so imagine what it must have been like during those long years in prison? Painful, exhausting and spirit killing!, but he managed to keep his determination and loyalty for the cause alive. He was an old man, and was still willing to do anything for his people. He was a man to admire. He sacrificed his marriage because while he was trying all in his might to end apartheid, she was being quite a radical. Accused of participating in violence, she was ruining Mandela's image as a serious man willing to talk and compromise to end Apartheid, and condemning violence. Mandela’s contributions were enormous. He saw South Africa more importantly than his personal, mental and physical matters. He put his people before himself.

De Klerks contributions are astonishing, especially knowing that he was an extreme racist before, and that he did not believe in majority rule anymore than Botha did. De Klerks family background meant that he grew up in a pro-Apartheid environment, all for white supremacy, and when in cabinet, he was noted for “constantly throwing up obstacles to reform”. Once prime Minster, he was indeed faced with many dilemmas. He knew he had to do something, as the sanctions were taking toll and he was under pressure for political reform, even from many whites. He rid South Africa of Petty Apartheid, but it barely made a difference. De Klerk, regardless of the enormous amount of pressure he was under, decided to free Mandela and the banned groups, and in February 1991, he announced that the final laws of Apartheid were to be scrapped! White extremists may not have liked this, but this did not stop de Klerk. In March 1992, he cheerfully said, “Today, we have closed the book on Apartheid”. Here we see that de Klerk made quite the right decisions, at least he realised, unlike Botha that “the greatest risk is not to take a risk”.

Ultimately, all I can say is that both men contributed equally. They both played an important role to end Apartheid, but obviously this can be debated. I do believe that they both gave equal assistance, just in different ways. Mandela’s way was based upon his true belief that Apartheid was evil and that his people needed equality, where as de Klerks sudden change of mind, from racist to pro-reform , was some what arguably, due to the damage the sanctions were doing to South Africa. De Klerks contributions were made for material matters, but Mandela’s were for genuine freedom and equality for his people. The difference in intention could sway one to choose between the two, but I do not agree that anyone balances out the other. If de Klerk did not announce the end of Apartheid, this white man, prime minister, does one really think that Apartheid would have ended? I personally do not. He could have not ended Apartheid, and regardless of his reasons, he still did it, and that is what matters. He compromised with Mandela, and vice versa, so that at the end of the day, they could not have done it without each other.

What is Quantum Physics?

What is Quantum Physics?

Quantum physics is a branch of science that deals with discrete, indivisible units of energy called quanta as described by the Quantum Theory. There are five main ideas represented in Quantum Theory:

1- Energy is not continuous, but comes in small but discrete units.
2 -The elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves.
3 -The movement of these particles is inherently random.
4- It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.
5-The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in.

While at a glance this may seem like just another strange theory, it contains many clues as to the fundamental nature of the universe and is more important then even relativity in the grand scheme of things (if any one thing at that level could be said to be more important then anything else). Furthermore, it describes the nature of the universe as being much different then the world we see. As Niels Bohr said, "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."

Al Jama'ah-jama'atl muslimin

khilafah >?

The speech of Allah (SWT) to the Prophet (SAW)also applies to the Ummah. To establish the rule of Allah, entails the establishment of the State and the appointment of a Khalifah, who governs according to Islam. It is incumbent upon the Musilms to establish a state and appoint a leader who applies Islam. The appointment of such a Khalifahis obtained through the Bay'aa.
It has been reported on the autority of Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say:

"One who dies without having bound himself by an oath of allegiance (to an Amir) will die the death of one belonging to the days of Jahiliyyah." (Muslim)

It has been Narrated on the authority of Abdullah b Amir b al-As that he heard the Prophet (SAW) say:

"He who swears allegiance to a Khalifah should give him the pledge of his hand and the sincerity of his heart (i.e. submit to him both outwardly as well as inwardly). He should obey him to the best of his capacity. If another man comes forward (as claim ant to Khalifah) disputing his authority, they (the Muslims) should behead the latter." (Muslim)

In accordance with Islam, it is the duty of the Muslims world wide to elect a Khalifah. Such an appointment is seen as a duty (fard) similar to all other duties within Islam. The duty is seen as inevitable, and any divergence from the path is considered a grave sin, and therefore any neglect of this duty will be punished accordingly. The establishment of a Khilafah is seen as vital, because without it Islam cannot possibly be applied.
Such factors as: the weakness and deterioration of the Muslim world; the collapse of the Khilafah; the application of Kufr systems in Muslim countries; the removal of Islam from life; the control of Kufr over the Muslim land; the division of the state int o weak countries ruled by agents of the unbelievers; the establishment of Israel plunging itself like a sword into our heart; and the submissive attitude of the Muslims towards Israel; has led the sincere and conscious sons of the great Ummah to think abo ut this terrible situation; to analyse and study the reasons for such a development; to study the various movemts (Islamic and Nationalistic) which were formed in order to save the Muslim world, and the reasons why they failed; to study the large influent ial movents throughout history and the reasons for their success; and to study Islam in depth by referring to the Qur'an, the Sunnah, Ijtihad (exertion on the text) of the Muslim scholars, and the example of how the Prophet (SAW) established the Islamic State.