H.G. Wells His Life and Work

Herbert George Wells, more commonly known as H.G. Wells (September 21, 1866-August 13, 1946), was a prolific English author of fiction and non-fiction. Wells is best-remembered, however, for his famous science fiction novels and uncanny predictions about the future. Fast Facts: H.G. Wells Full Name:  Herbert George WellsOccupation:  WriterBorn:  September 21, 1866, Bromley, EnglandDied:  August 13, 1946, London, England  Spouse(s): Isabel Mary Wells (1891-1894); Amy Catherine Robbins (1895-1927)Children: G.P. Wells, Frank Wells, Anna-Jane Wells, Anthony WestPublished Works:  The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Wheels of Chance, The Invisible Man, The War of the WorldsKey Accomplishments:  Pioneered the science fiction genre and wrote more than 100 books during his 60-plus year career.   Early Years H.G. Wells was born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, England. His parents, Joseph Wells and Sarah Neal, worked as domestic servants before using a small inheritance to purchase a hardware store. Known as Bertie to his family, Wells had three older siblings. The family lived in poverty for many years as the store provided a limited income due to poor location and inferior merchandise. At the age of 7, after Wells suffered an accident that left him bedridden, he became a voracious reader of everything from Charles Dickens to Washington Irving. When the family store finally went under, his mother went to work as a housekeeper at a large estate. It was there Wells was able to expand his literary horizons with authors such as Voltaire.  Ã‚   At the age of 18, Wells received a scholarship to the Normal School of Science, where he studied biology. He later attended London University. After graduating in 1888, Wells became a science teacher. His first book, the Textbook of Biology, was published in 1893. Personal Life Wells married his cousin, Isabel Mary Wells, in 1891, but left her in 1894 for a former student, Amy Catherine Robbins. The couple married in 1895. Wells first fiction novel, The Time Machine, was published the same year. The book brought Wells instant fame, inspiring him to embark on a serious career as a writer. Famous Works Wells long- and short-form fiction falls into many genres, including science-fiction, fantasy, dystopian fiction, satire, and tragedy. Wells penned plenty of non-fiction, including biographies, autobiographies, social commentaries, and textbooks as well as social commentary, history, biography, autobiography, and recreational war games. Wells 1895 debut, The Time Machine, was followed by The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). All four novels have been adapted for film, however, one of the most famous renditions of a Wells work was by Orson Welles, whose radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds was broadcast on October 30, 1938. The reports that many listeners, not realizing what they were hearing was a radio play rather than a news broadcast and were so terrorized at the prospect of an alien invasion that they fled their homes in fear has since been debunked. However, the panic story was accepted for years and became one of the most enduring urban legends ever perpetrated in the name of a publicity campaign. Death H.G. Wells died on August 13, 1946, at the age of 79 of unspecified causes (his death has been attributed to a heart attack or a liver tumor). Wells ashes were scattered at sea in Southern England near a series of three chalk formations known as  Old Harry Rocks. Impact and Legacy H.G. Wells liked  to say that he wrote scientific romances. Today, we refer to this style of writing as  science fiction. Wells influence on this genre is so significant that he, along with French author Jules Verne, share the title of the father of science fiction. Wells was among the first to write about such things as time machines and  alien invasions. His most famous works have never been out of print, and their influence is still apparent in modern books, films, and television shows. Wells also made a number of social and scientific predictions in his writing—including airplane and  space travel, the  atomic bomb,  and even the automatic door—that have since come to pass. These prophetic imaginings are part of Wells legacy and one of the things he is most famous for. Quotes H.G. Wells often commented on art, people, government, and social issues. Here are some characteristic examples: I found that, taking almost anything as a starting point and letting my thoughts play about with it, there would presently come out of the darkness, in a manner quite inexplicable, some absurd or vivid little nucleus. Humanity  either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions, great or small. If you fell down yesterday, stand up today. Sources â€Å"Bibliography.†Ã‚  The H.G. Wells Society, 12 Mar. 2015, hgwellssociety.com/bibliography/.Da Silva, Matheus. â€Å"The Legacy of H. G. Wells in Society and Science Fiction.†Ã‚  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/sci_fi_projects_spring_2017/Project_1/Da_Silva_Matt/Project_1/Project_1.html.â€Å"H.G. Wells.†Ã‚  Biography.com, AE Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/people/hg-wells-39224.James, Simon John. â€Å"HG Wells: A visionary who should be remembered for his social predictions, not just his scientific ones.†Ã‚  The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 22 Sept. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hg-wells-a-visionary-who-should-be-remembered-for-his-social-predictions-not-just-his-scientific-a7320486.html.Nicholson, Norman Cornthwaite. â€Å"H.G. Wells.†Ã‚  Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, inc., 15 Nov. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/H-G-Wells.â₠¬Å"The Man Who Invented Tomorrow From The Science of Science-Fiction Writing, by James Gunn.†Ã‚  University of Kansas Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction, www.sfcenter.ku.edu/tomorrow.htm.

First Impressions Are Not Last Impressions - 1608 Words

First Impressions are Not Lasting Impressions When you see a person in a wheelchair, a person with no legs, or a person with physical abnormalities what is you reaction? Do you stare with curiosity? Do you pretend to be indifferent and walk by like there is no person there at all? Are you disgusted or stricken with pity? Or do you see them as a person, just like you, living their life the best they know how? Our perception of people are largely based on their physical appearance and often the thoughts that enter our minds when we see an individual that has a visual disability are negative and cause us to formulate a disapproving impression about their person as a whole. The question lies in what happens with the initial impression.†¦show more content†¦Or if a person is missing a limb, in our minds they are an incomplete person. We may think that they dont have the same things to offer society that a person with that has all four limbs intact has. In the same light, if an individual were to be unable to speak a word or sentence with fluidity due to some dysfunctional neurological function, we assume that they are somehow stupid and they dont have the capacity to formulate a meaningful and intelligent thought, when in reality they may intellectually far surpass the average person. Due to this initial perception that is drawn, a broader conclusion is made about the person as an entire entity that mirrors that initial perception. In essence, a halo effect occurs and the persons positive or negative traits seem to spill over from one area of their personality to another in others perceptions of them. Bodily appearance assumes a major role because the visible appearance of an individual, not the invisible personality, constitutes the main basis of identification. (Chapter 4, Pg 61) But if these initial conclusions remain throughout the relationship, then how might a relationship between two people flourish into greater intimacy, similar to that of the relationships between the woman with cerebral palsy and the man at the party in Skin Horse? They answer is that they dont; the initial perceptions of people do not remain once one has gotten to know the person better.Show MoreRelatedAn Reflection On The Impression Formation1723 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION: Impression is a long lasting image of a person created in our minds which can last long for years. There are a lot of research done by Solomon Asch (1946), Bruner Taiguri (1954), Rosenberg, Nelson Vivekanathan (1968) to understand Impression Formation. According to Solomon Asch (1946) at a glance of any person an impression of his personality can instantly form. Even by looking or talking with that person a whole story about his entire character can be told. 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In your social li fe, first impressionsRead MoreWhat is Impression Formation1321 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Impression formation is an idea formed without consciousness based on little evidence to evaluate a judgement. The process of forming impression is determined through verbal communication, non-verbal communication and paralinguistic cues. Verbal communication is the content of what a person says. Non-verbal communication is the way we present ourselves without using spoken language while paralanguage is the way we talk other than spoken words. This research conducted was experimentalRead MorePride And Prejudice By Jane Austen Essay1193 Words   |  5 PagesThere is a second title to the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Jane Austen did not initially call the book title Pride and Prejudice but rather called it First Impressions. 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At the same time, the prosperously developing travel sector across the world manifests the huge market potential of the hotel sector (Milne, S., Ateljevic, I. (2001)). Lobby is the key department that gives the first impression and the last impression to customers and it represents the image of the whole hotel. The service includes the Protocol Department, the reception, the switchboard and the business center. The main functions are ordering, check-in, service in the hotel, check-out

The Development of Arabic Scripts Free Essays

string(112) " by Justinian in 529 as patricius and phylarch with supreme authority over all the Arabs in the northern Syria\." 1. Pre – Islamic Era Arabic script is probably one of the oldest in the world, having been widely spread across cultures as this was the language used to spread Islam in major territories. Its influence can be seen in various languages which adopted Arabic script to develop their own way of recording, like Persian, Pashto, Urdu and more. We will write a custom essay sample on The Development of Arabic Scripts or any similar topic only for you Order Now But Arab scripts have evolved with major historical events of these nations (AncientScripts. com). Various accounts of the history of Arabia, the ‘island of the Arabs’, give the impression that Arabic scripts started to take form at the height of Islamization or during the time of Prophet Mohammed. It is said to have originated from the fourth century, CE but there is evidence – an ancient document – that shows Arabic script was already a medium for recording even as early as 512 CE. Long before the Prophet Mohammed was born (some authors say even 700 years before Mohammed), the Arabs already had established a form of written language which originally was used by the Nabateans who once inhabited a territory which is now the kingdom of Jordan. This was called the Nabatean script, which evolved from the Aramaic language. The Nabataean script was an off – shoot of the Aramaic alphabet which developed in the first century CE on the Sinai Peninsula and in North Arabia. It differs conspicuously from other Aramaic varieties by making extensive use of ligatures. Stone inscriptions in the Nabataean script are found from Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Kingdon (c. 150 CE to 100 CE), to Damascus and Medina. The script is not attested in manuscripts, although its cursive character with letters frequently joined together indicates common use. The language of the inscriptions is Nabataean, a close cognate of Aramaic – other authors claim it s Aramaic and that the Nabataeans had dual language styles for communication: written in Aramaic, verbal in Arabic. Spread over a wide area, the script exhibits considerable variation with highly diverse letter shapes. Its significance for the history of writing lies in its being the immediate forebear of the Arabic script. Certain features of the Arabic character, such as the existence of separate final forms for certain letters, are already foreshadowed in Nabataean writing. Its transformation into the Arabic script took place in the fourth and fifth centuries CE (Calmous 350). In the North of the Syrian Desert, the Arabs were involved in world politics very much earlier. Even under the Assyrian king Tiglath – Pileser III (745 – 728BC), there was an Arabi kingdom there with its capital in the Jawf, which was ruled by queens and remained one of the vassal states of Assyria until the time of Essarhaddon (689 – 669 BC). The Babylonian King Nabunaid (556 – 539 BC) had his residence for some time in the oasis of Tayma, which was the base of his expeditions against the west. An Aramaic inscription from the Persian era found there indicates the organization of the city cult, with its priests and temple gods. Then as early as the period of the last Achaemenians, the Nabataean state sprang up (in a territory of modern day Jordan). This state controlled the caravan trade from South Africa to Medina and remained significantly independent since Alexander the Great’s plan of conquering Arabia by sea from east and west simultaneously was not resumed by his successors. At first, Petra’s commerce was drawn to Bostra, where caravans then proceeded to Chalcis, below Lebanon and Emesa, Edessa, and Hatra toward the north and east. The Nabataeans adopted the titles of their officials and military leaders from neighboring Hellenistic states. The Nabataean capital was Petra, a mountain fortress lying about halfway between the Dead Sea and the tip of the Arabian gulf (Brockelman 6). Numerous inscriptions and ruins found in the rock – cut tombs bear witness to the flourishing civilization of the Nabataeans but in these inscriptions, Aramaic was used for it was then the official language dating as far back as the time of the Achaemenians. There are also accounts of other historians that Arabic was the spoken language of the Nabataeans but they write using Aramaic. Initially, they were considered by the Romans as allies until the time of Trajan but due to doubts over their ambiguity during the Jewish insurrection under Titus, the Nabataean Kingdom was absorbed as Provincia Arabia in 106 BC. The civilized areas – or the major cities where trades occur – were marked off from the deset by a chain of fortifications which were far from being strong as the Limes on the Rhine and on the Danube frontier (Brockelman 6). But in another Arab state, Palmyra, the Nabataeans found a more fortunate heir. In the wars between Rome and the Parthians, Palmyra was prudently neutral and by the time of Augustus, was able to extend its trade connections to Rome, Dacia, Gaul and Spain. The Severian Dynasty, also half – Semitic, showed favor on Palmyra. From 260 onwards King Odenat extended his rule over the entire Syria and was even acknowledged by the weak Roman Emperor, Gallienus, as co – emperor for the Orient. After his death in 268, his wife Zenobia maintained his power for a time but Aurelianus destroyed Palmyra in 273. This tragedy would be retold through generations even until the first centuries of Islam. (Brockelmann 7). Palmyra represented the last stance of Arab independence pre – Islam and its fall marked a loss of Arab independence. No other Arab state in the north remained free after this and they were used as vassals by the Romans and Byzantines to ward off incursions of the nomads (Bedouins, or Arabs) into the settled regions. This is probably why the Nabataeans retained their scripts even under Roman rule – because they continued with their trades and were also vassals to ward off their own kind from coming into major cities of commerce (Brockelmann 7). In the 6th century, however, the Ghassanid dynasty ruled at Damascus, east of the Jordan. He was designated by Justinian in 529 as patricius and phylarch with supreme authority over all the Arabs in the northern Syria. You read "The Development of Arabic Scripts" in category "Papers" But this power again dissolved into fragmentary principalities after his death and when they won over the Persians, the Roman Emperor let their officials rule until a Muslim onslaught brought another Ghassanid ruler of the Syrian Arabs (Brockelmann 8). Before and during these periods, the Arabs had been exposed to Christianity (Yah-weh / Judaism) at one time or another. First, from the Roman Empire Christianity exercising great power over them, down to the Lakhmid Dynasty in Hirah who once served the Persians and had finally gone to the Christian faith of their urban subjects, even the Bedouins in the north were in intimate contact with the indigenous Aramean population, who had long since been swallowed up by Christianity. Inner Arabia also due to their trading cities of the Hijaz must have also been permeated by a knowledge of Christian teachings and customs, however superficial, as a result of the steady traffic with related tribes in the north. The anchorites, whose cells must have spread from Palestine and Sinai Peninsula far into the desert, no doubt also made a great many contributions. In addition, the desert was an asylum from some sects persecuted by the established church, and precisely these may have spread their doctrines with more success than the Orthodox Church. During these times, however, the Aramaic language still remained the official and principal administrative language. Thus, most of the inscriptions on the Petra were in Aramaic but there have been evidence showing that the Nabataeans before used their own language for their local transactions and in oral exchange, but retained Aramaic for recording due to its value in trading with other countries. Other authors propose that some Arab nations or states were actually oral groups; meaning, they hand down their stories by telling and re – telling it and still could keep it fresh in their memories but there are also groups who were visual, or those which could not keep a mental record of events thus, keep records in tablet form. Nomads, for instance, or Bedouins, often recite poetry in their gatherings inside their tents wherever they are in the dessert. But those engaged in trades, in the major cities, often would chose to write to keep a record of their transactions. Many believe that the ancient Arabs’ exposure to Christians / those practicing Judaism probably justifies the influence or traces of Sumerian, Greek, Akkadian or Aramaic system to an otherwise Semitic heritage in the Arabic scripts or written as well as spoken languages. But others argue that though there appear some points for seeming similarities, these actually represent the observed or practiced systems used by different countries at the time. While some authors attribute the variations to assimilation, others believe the language and therefore, the scripts, evolved following events in Arab history. But in the case of the Nabataeans from the former territory now called Jordan, they were able to keep both, Arab language and Aramaic scripts. This is perhaps because all Arabs, including the Nabataeans who were under Roman rule for many years, were used as vassals against their own Arab brothers. Thus they kept their language to communicate with each other, and for trading purposes, maintained Aramaic. The duality could perhaps be due to the fact that two somewhat differing entities formed their society then: the urban people and the nomads (whom they had to ward off from the center of civilization, as was their task as vassals for the Roman Empire). The former relied so much on writing for keeping records, while the latter, used word of mouth to communicate information, even recite poetry. Other authors though, believe that the Aramaic inscriptions on the Petra were in fact the written or Arabic script at the time. Prior to Mohammed’s birth, some Arabs were Christians, others primitive in their exercise of faith, as was their political life. Like they believed that their surroundings had forces superior to those of man. These forces were believed to be like the human soul but with dangerous powers that could turn them into demons. They, Semites, regarded trees, stones, caves, springs and large stones are inhabited by spirits. The Black Stone of Islam in a corner of the KaBah, Mecca, in Petra and other places in Arabia stones were venerated also. Every tribe has its own god but also recognized the power of other tribal gods in their own sphere. Individual clans sometimes named themselves after other gods than those of the tribe, and the same divinity was worshipped by various tribes. The gods had fixed abodes, after the tribe has departed, they enjoyed the worship of its successors; the tribes returned once or twice a year to worship (Brockelmann 9). Contrary to claims of the Jews and Christians, the Arabs already did believe in a God, creator of the world, in addition to the gods and goddesses – even before the birth of Islam. 2. The Prophet Mohammed The Prophet Mohammed, ergo, the birth of Islam has also brought about changes in the Arabic scripts. He has touched a cord in Arab history and left an influence that would govern every aspect of Arabian nations long after he had gone. The Arab ruling group began to identify its new order with a revelation by God to Mohammed, then a citizen of Mecca, in the form of a Holy Book, the Qur’an. This was a revelation which completed those given to earlier prophets or messengers of God and created a new religion, Islam, distinct and separate from Judaism and Christianity (Hourani 15). The most obscure part of his life was the early one. It is said he was born in Mecca, a town in Western Arabia, near or in the year 570. His family belonged to the tribe of Quraysh, although not to its powerful part. This tribe was composed of traders who had contacts with the pastoral tribes around Mecca, relations with Syria and south – western Arabia. He worked for – and later married – a widow and managed her business for her. One day he received a message from an ‘angel, seen in the form of a man on the horizon’ who called him to become a messenger of God. Affirmed by his wife, he them began relaying messages which he believed were revealed to him by an angel of God: that the world would end, that God would judge all men and the pains of Hell and delights of Heaven were vividly described. Gradually he had a following, including young members of the influential families of their tribe, Quraysh, members of minor families and clients of other tribes who had placed themselves under the protection of Quraysh, and some craftsmen and slaves. As his teachings developed, its difference from the teachings of the time became apparent and placed him more explicitly in the line of prophets of the Jews and Christian tradition (Hourani 1991). Mohammed demanded of his followers’ profession of belief in the One God and the surrender to God’s will, islam, after which his religion took its name. Probably very early he also levied a poor – tax for the maintenance of needgy members of the community but it was only later in Medina that it assumed greater significance. The chief duty of the faithful, by virtue of which they professed membership in the community, was praying at first twice, then three times, and only later five times a day. Mohammed’s teachings were not accepted by some of the Arabs, in fact, he and his followers were locked up in a ravine. When his wife and uncle died, he had to move to Mecca after his brother, a strong opponent of his religion, took his uncle’s place. But he was not accepted there as well and driven away by stoning that he never returned to the place until he received assurance from a relative that he will be protected. Within his lifetime, Mohammed started his mission of religious and political unification of Arabia. He abolished the foothold of paganism in Mecca and later in all Arab states. Then after his death, he was succeeded by his father –in – law and started the caliphate. The caliphate succeeded in subduing and conquering neighboring places and spread Islam with it. There were oppositions to it, like people willing to follow the religion or Allah’s will but not pay taxes. In the long run, however, they were either driven by force, fear or respect for the Allah so that the religion flourished in almost all of Asia, the Mediterranean as well as some parts of Europe (Hourani 6). It was after the conquest of Mesopotamia that a school for the study of Islam and its development was built in the city of Kufa. Kufa is the place where the kufic script was developed / originated, hence the name. Due to variations in the languages of peoples – converts – under Islamic rule, they felt the need to provide uniformity of religious concepts and practices so that scholars created some form of a dictionary which was later discarded. But that, to some analysts, was actually the first helpful step in Arab history for establishing the common literary standard of Islamic scholars (Brockelmann 15) The extent to which the intellectual life of the epoch was still dominated by Arabic and by the great past of the Arabs is also attested to by the two major focus of interest of the educated world: philology and history. The former had risen in connection with the Qur’an. It was necessary that the numerous new converts, born in communities of different speech, develop and perfect an understanding of the diving word and its proper application in effective prayer. It was just an urgent need to enable them to acieve a complete mastery of the nuances of Arabic and its excessively rich vocabulary (Brockelmann 119). It was in the city of Kufa and Basra where classes on history and literature were conducted. Kufa was also chosen as the major place for studying Islam and mastering the Qur’an. Due to the various languages of the newly converted Islams, the kufic script was developed mainly as the medium to copy Qur’an and to create a vast collection of commentaries on the Qur’anic verses. This was done in order for converts of different languages to understand one common version of the Qu’ran. Angular, which was most likely a product of inscribing on hard surfaces such as wood or stone, kufic soon became the principal script for copying the Qu’ran. For the same reason (having a principal script for copying the Qur’an), the nakshi script, also known as the ‘Mecca – Medina’ script came about. It is thought to have been developed by Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muqlah (died 940) and introduced in Baghdad, once the seat of literature in Arabia. The nakshi is one of the earliest book hands and is more cursive than the angular kufic script. Because of its elegance and legibility, the nakshi script as of the eleventh century gradually superseded kufic as the principal script for writing the Qur’an. Nakshi has also been widely used for languages other than Arabic, like Persian, Turkish, Malay, Kiswahili, Hausa, and Serbo – Croatian, among others. And from this script, other styles have also developed, the most popular of which are the riqa, diwani, and the thuluth (Calmous 351). Another off – shoot of the nakshi script is the nastaliq script, which was first seen in the thirteenth century CE, developed by Mir Ali, a calligrapher from Tabriz. It evolved as a combination of nakshi and taliq, hence the name nastaliq. While nakshi was primarily used for copying the Qur’an, the nastaliq, on the other hand, was widely used for manuscripts and architectural monuments, particularly in Persia (Calmous 353). With the invasion of Persia came another development in language and scripts. Farsi, actually a combination of Arabic and European languages, was used by the Persians and Arab residents in that area. Other authors claim that Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muglah, a vizier in Baghdad, invented the sitta, a canon of six cursive scripts which include the thuluth, nakshi, rihani, muhaqqaq, tauqi and riqa. This was later augmented to include four more scripts, ghubar, tumar, taliq and nastaliq, which came to be used in the whole Islamic world. While these cursive scripts were popular with calligraphers and illuminators, they never replaced the kufic althogether, except for the nakshi – other writers claim it superseded the kufic by the eleventh century. Today, in many religious writings, kufic headings are still used, in combination with the main body of the text written in cursive script (Calmous 66). One cannot study the Arabic scripts without touching on Arabic calligraphy. Since the Prophet Mohammad stated God’s message in his native tongue, Arabic (scholars think he was actually using a combination of Aramaic and Nabataean languages, otherwise now known and indiscriminately described as Arabic), the Qur’an hence was also written in this language. Arabic, has therefore, been revered as God’s language and every letter of the Arabic alphabet is regarded as a manifestation of God (Calmous 64). Thus, for many Muslims the Qur’an should not be rendered in any other language. As the written version of the revelation, it must always be copied in Arabic. Since, in the wake of the Islamic conquest Islam as a religion was carried to regions of many different tongues, written Arabic acquired an important function as a unifying bond of the various Islamic peoples. Writing itself came to be regarded as an expression of faith. In this spirit it developed into a religious inspired art with a special status that no other forms of aesthetic expression was able to attain – calligraphy (Calmous 64). A great variety of materials was used to receive calligraphic writing: stone, glass, ceramics, metalwork, woodwork, carpets and other textiles, as well as parchment paper and other surfaces of manuscript writing. The adaptability of Arabic scripts and their ability to be modified is attributed to the early use of such a variety of surfaces (Calmous 64). Because of its religious significance, great importance is attached to the literal contents of Islamic calligraphy. Yet, sometimes the verbal message is pushed into the background by the decorative function. As many students of Islamic calligraphy pointed out, there are a great number of inscriptions which defy easy reading. Orthographic mistakes and peculiarities as well as typographic idiosyncrasies render inscriptions on such sanctuaries as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (seventh century), the Qutab Minar in Delhi (eleventh century) and the Masjid-i-Shah Mosque in Isfahan (seventeenth century) virtually impossible to decipher. This suggests that the viewer of these works was not always expected to read the text. In many instances of decorative writing, the symbolic message was conveyed by other means. For instance, an inscription on a tomb or the wall of a mosque would be recognized as a holy phrase, no matter whether it could actually be read or not (Calmous 66). History shows that the development of Arabic scripts, as opposed to Arabic calligraphy, was purely for a functional rather than decorative purpose. However, for many who find it impossible to decipher scripts or calligraphic art in Arabic, they would have to look deeper into the history of Arabic nations, with focus on the history of Islam. Those who wish to decipher and understand the numerous transitions the Arabic scripts have gone through across the centuries would better grasp, and maybe even be guided by the annals of history. For instance, while others think nakshi has superseded kufic being the principal language or medium of communication or transmitting the Qur’an, it would help them understand better or find out more if such is the fact by assessing the current or be updated with the present print media being used by Islam. On the other hand, as is occurring amongst Christians all over the world, with all the versions and different languages or Arabic scripts used to print the Qur’an, is there any chance that there may be issues of misinterpretations considering that there is not an exact equivalent of one word across the different scripts or languages? Or is it safe to assume that the later scripts developed (nakshi, kufic, thuluth) found exactly the same words from Arabic translated to these scripts in exact precision? It may not be humanly possible to decipher each and every variation of the Qur’an copied in the different scripts like nakshi and kufic to see if precisely the same words have the same meaning in the original Arabic version. But if for the interest of curiosity one should start to do an inquest, maybe it would save him time to reflect on the following observations and then make his own inferences: First of all, in spite of the variations or the versions of Arabic scripts by which the Qur’an is written, it is amazing how there is only one version of Islam the religion and all things corollary to Allah’s orders are the same things every Muslim believes. Comparing the Islam faith with Christianity, there are thousands of types of Christians all over the world – some of which were formed on the basis of their understanding of some verses in the Holy Bible. Though both the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur’an have been translated or transliterated or written in different scripts, the uniformity of treatment and application of the religious concepts practiced by Islams all over the world is simply amazing. It therefore becomes easy to infer that the kufic and nakshi scripts, used in copying Qur’an, may have therefore been religiously developed. And the purpose therefore, of developing such scripts to help other Islamic converts understand it, was achieved. How to cite The Development of Arabic Scripts, Papers

Assignment on Leadership and Organizations

Question: Many of the leadership styles you have come across in the module tend to be more successful in the short term but the emerging research and literature seems to demonstrate that a transformational style is much more effective for the longer term. By reference to leadership principles adopted by various business leaders, critically evaluate the evidence that transformational leadership impacts positively on employee motivation and organisational culture and thereby influences the success of the business. Answer: 1. Introduction Transformational leadership is an approach to management which has the motive of doing the best for the individuals working in an organization from the root level up to the top management. It focuses on an individual as well as on the entire group. It encompasses many aspects of human character like his work ethics and attitude which makes it possible for him to be an able and fair leader. This quality will enable him to lead from the bottom, middle as well as from the top of the organization. The transformational leaders are those who are the risk-takers, inspirational and provide constant motivation to all his subordinates. In this assignment one can understand what Transformational Leadership is all about and how does it differ from the other leadership styles. 2. Leadership styles Leadership can be in various forms. There is no single way of providing able leadership inside an organization. Various leaders follow different types of leadership (Keller et al. 2014). It depends on the personal thought process and belief of the individual. A few of the leadership types are enumerated as follows: Laissez-Faire This follows a style in which there is no direct supervision. Also it does not provide regular feedback to employees under his supervision. The highly experienced and skilled employees who do not require strict supervision, falls under this category. A good example of this type is that followed by Warren Buffet. He is a business tycoon from the US and one of the richest persons in the world. He is currently the Chairman, CEO and he holds the biggest share in Berkshire Hathaway. His company has employees around him who are efficient. He interferes only when they have done any wrong and deliberately allows mistakes to occur, so that the employees can take a lesson from them. He has tasted great success by following this leadership style. Autocratic This type of leadership involves making decisions without being open to the others view points. The managers retain the total authority and impose their orders on the subordinates. This style is applied to employees who require a close supervision. But generally the employees tend to dislike it (Hurt et al. 2015). We can consider the name of Idi Amin, the third President of Uganda. His rule was for 8 long years during the 1970. He was infamous for suppressive rule and total mismanagement. It is a shock to know that nearly 500000 were killed during his regime. He was later on sent on exile. Democratic It is also known as the democratic leadership style. It involves gathering inputs from the peers and subordinates, but the final decision will be taken by the leader himself. The employees like this style as they feel important in the decision making process. This style is suitable mainly in the short period. We can discuss about President John F. Kennedy here. He happened to be the 35th President of the country. He held his post for 2 years till 1963. He used to take the suggestions from his subordinates and peers to develop a more concrete plan although the final decision rested with him. This made him a very popular figure among his colleagues and a popular international figure. Transformational This style depends on communication and guidance from the higher management to the employees in order to reach the organizational goals. By this process, the leaders try to motivate the employees in order to increase their productivity by effective communication and strict supervision. Here the management takes an active part in meeting the organizational goals. The leader delegates the responsibility in small parts to the individual team members and he himself focuses on the larger goal of the organization. Thus it is nothing but to reach the organizational objective by motivating each team member and making all of them work towards reaching the objective (Hazy et al. 2013). We can talk about Walt Disney in this regard. He believed in the policy of changing the outlook of the subordinates by providing exemplary leadership. He believed in innovation and would do anything to reach to his objectives. In 1923, he founded the Disney Brothers Studio, along with his brother. He never shift ed his focus from his vision. That is why, he was loved by his subordinates and the whole world looks up to him as someone who provided inspirational motivation. 3. Comparison of Transformational and other leadership styles Here the Transformational Leadership is compared with the other styles of leadership. The respective advantages and disadvantages can be seen. 3.1 Transformational vs Laissez-Faire Leadership The Laissez-Faire style does not include strict supervision. It does not even provide regular feedbacks to the employees. It is mainly for the senior and experienced employees who are well- accustomed to their job roles and are carrying out their duties properly. Transformational Leadership is on the other hand dependent on providing leadership from the top down to bottom. Here, the leader interacts with each member of his team and tries to solve their individual problems and guide them towards their own and organizational goals. 3.2 Transformational vs Autocratic Leadership Autocratic leadership is the one in which the leader has his own control on every decision. What he says, the subordinates will have to follow. They cannot come up with their own ideas. This is just the opposite of the Transformational. In Transformational style, the leader considers the subordinates view points and tries to consider some of their ideas. But he is more focused to lead by example and take his team along with him by providing able guidance to them. This is why transformational style is more popular than autocratic. 3.3 Transformational vs Democratic Leadership Democratic leadership involves the involvement of the fellow members in providing valuable ideas to the leader for consideration. If the leader feels that they are worth consideration, he will implement them in his strategy. But, Transformational leadership involves not only gathering valuable points from the subordinates, but primarily to guide them to reach the goals by able leadership. Here, the leader tries to understand each and every employees requirements and then mentor them in his own way to match their ideas with him. 4. History of Transformational Leadership in organizational success The origin of Transformational Leadership can be attributed to the renowned leadership expert and the biographer, Mr. James MacGregor Burns. There are four basic components of this type of leadership. These are as follows: The ideal role model The leader is seen as the role model by the followers. The leader leads by examples and the subordinates try to emulate him (Singh et al. 2014). Motivating the followers The leader possesses the capacity to motivate the subordinates by encouraging words and increase their efficiency in the work. Individual approach to team members The transformational leader is concerned genuinely about the various needs of each employee. In order to achieve organizational success, it is very important to take care of every team members problems and try to solve them and guide them individually (Guerrero et al. 2014). Providing intellectual stimulation to the subordinates The leader provides continuous challenges to each employee to bring out their creativity and innovation. This continuous stimulation keeps the employees involved in their own works and they try to perform all the more to an even better level of efficiency and output (Grille et al. 2015). 5. Organization which has tasted success in Transformational Leadership approach In order to demonstrate how an organization succeeds in achieving its goals, we may cite the example of Apple Inc. Apple Inc, the renowned hardware and software manufacturer happens to be an American organization which is headquartered at Cupertino in California. It was founded on 1st April, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne (Lopes et al. 2015). Among them, Steve Jobs who was the co-founder, CEO and chairman of Apple deserves special mention. Steve Jobs was instrumental in making Apple one of the leading hardware and software manufacturers of the era. This report attempts to reflect his qualities as a transformational leader and how it helped Apple to reach the ultimate level of success. It might be said that the return to Apple in 1997 by Jobs was the golden period for Apple. He not only changed the fortune of the company but also the entire computer industry (Buch et al. 2014). In order to understand what Jobs has done for Apple, it is important to look back 15 years. During the period 1995-96, Apple was in a mess. The products were not performing as expected and that caused a decrease in the revenues. A Web Campaign was conducted in order to attract some of the fans to buy a certain number of shares of the company to prove a point to Wall Street that Apple was still far from over. In order to improve the situation, Apple purchased NeXT, the computer company founded by Jobs, when he was fired from Apple in 1986. After this, Jobs convinced Apples board of directors to request for Mr. Gil Amelios resignation as the CEO of the company (Crooke et al. 2015). It was then Jobss period of service as the interim CEO. Later on he became the permanent CEO. His impressive leadership, involving all the employees of the company, guiding each one of them along the organizational objectives, began to prove instrumental in the turnaround of Apple. By that time, Apple became the most valued corporation in the U.S. It exceeded Microsoft and Intel combined, in terms of market share and revenues. He changed the fortune of the company totally by making things simple. This was the essence of his leadership style. He and Jonathan Ives designed new strategies for the company which proved to be a revelation for Apple. Apple lacked focus and there were managers who were unethically competing with each other. Jobs was the person who put an end to all these unhealthy situations by paying individual attention to each of them and trying to find out the necessary course of action (Baron et al. 2014). This upper management intervention and supervision still exists in Apple, which is the reason for its success till today. Apple was slowly emerging as the most technologically developed company, its market share was increasing and was the golden period for the company. Today Apple boasts of 437 retail stores across 15 countries. It manufactures brands like Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iPad Mini, Apple TV, Apple Watch, OSX, iOS, iWork and iLife. This shows how transformational form of leadership can change the fortunes of a company which was on the verge of downsizing. It also shows how an able leader like Steve Jobs can positively impact the way of working and thinking of a company which lost all hopes of sustaining at a point of time. These are the positive impacts of Transformational Leadership. Nowadays, other leaders are also trying to emulate this style of leadership to gain success in the market (Amundsen et al. 2015). 6. Conclusion In the end it might be said that various organizational leaders believe in different leadership styles. It depends on their mentality and approach. Any organization, whether big or small, from any sector of the industry, needs able leaders at the top of management, to give direction to the employees and make them work in unison to achieve the goals of the company in short run as well as in the long run. We come across several leaders in history who have given motivational leadership to their followers and which resulted in something meaningful and successful. 7. Recommendations This article reflects the various leadership styles with the primary focus on Transformational Leadership. This form of leadership is time tasted and many organizations like, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, etc have benefited from it. Hence, any corporate and the leaders should emulate this form of leadership to bring a total sense of responsibility and oneness in the organization. This will efficiently increase the output of the company in the long run. For all the organizations, it is extremely important to identify the persons who have the potential to become the Transformational leaders. They are dynamic and they change the way the organization thinks and modify them to take the company to new height of success. 8. Reference list References Amundsen, S. and Martinsen, O. (2015). Linking Empowering Leadership to Job Satisfaction, Work Effort, and Creativity: The Role of Self-Leadership and Psychological Empowerment. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies. Baron, L. and Parent, E. (2014). Developing Authentic Leadership Within a Training Context: Three Phenomena Supporting the Individual Development Process. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 22(1), pp.37-53. Buch, R., Martinsen, O. and Kuvaas, B. (2014). The Destructiveness of Laissez-Faire Leadership Behavior: The Mediating Role of Economic Leader-Member Exchange Relationships. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 22(1), pp.115-124. Crooke, M., Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Bikel, R. (2015). Leadership in a Complex World. Organizational Dynamics. de Arajo, M. and Lopes, P. (2015). Virtuous leadership, organizational commitment and individual performance. Tkhne. Grille, A., Schulte, E. and Kauffeld, S. (2015). Promoting Shared Leadership: A Multilevel Analysis Investigating the Role of Prototypical Team Leader Behavior, Psychological Empowerment, and Fair Rewards. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies. Guerrero, S., Lapalme, M. and Seguin, M. (2014). Board Chair Authentic Leadership and Nonexecutives' Motivation and Commitment. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 22(1), pp.88-101. Gupta, V. and Singh, S. (2014). Leadership and Creative Performance Behaviors in RD Laboratories: Examining the Mediating Role of Justice Perceptions. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 22(1), pp.21-36. Hazy, J. and Uhl-Bien, M. (2013). Towards operationalizing complexity leadership: How generative, administrative and community-building leadership practices enact organizational outcomes. Leadership, 11(1), pp.79-104. Hurt, K. and Abebe, M. (2015). The Effect of Conflict Type and Organizational Crisis on Perceived Strategic Decision Effectiveness: An Empirical Investigation. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies. Keller, T. and Weibler, J. (2014). What It Takes and Costs To Be an Ambidextrous Manager: Linking Leadership and Cognitive Strain to Balancing Exploration and Exploitation. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 22(1), pp.54-71. Kiersch, C. and Byrne, Z. (2015). Is Being Authentic Being Fair? Multilevel Examination of Authentic Leadership, Justice, and Employee Outcomes. Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies.