What The Hell, uncle broke glass with magic Options

Ok guys.so a while back my uncle new a bit of magic. Parents told me he learned it from either Punjab, or Bangladesh. So basically what he did was set a glass in front of him, read some stuff, and in a few minutes the glass crumbled into pieces!!! I have no clue what he read unfortunately.
And another thing he did was get my moms brother to hold a plate. And within a minute it just started heating up really HOT while he was reading a spell of some sort.
He wasn’t wiccan or anything. He only did this a few time. He was muslim.
Can anyone explain to me what he did? What type of magic is this? How he did this?
Thanks.!

Any sufficiently powerful elementalist would technically be able to do that, but I fail to see why. It seems a lot of effort for very little gain and showmanship isn't usually one of the mage's specialities. Would you push boulders uphill until you are at the edge of your strength, exhausted and spent, just so a few people could get a moment of marvel?

I pursue the elementalist's path, and even as a neophyte, I know that is not something I am likely to do. If I do any showing, it'll be to myself, and just so I can practice my abilities.

If he was indeed capable of doing such, then it is a pity that he did not progress to summoning the elementals and their Kings. That, I understand, is far more useful as a role. Given the choice of triumphing over men with evil in their hearts with secret knowledge to be gained or conjuring tricks to wow the natives, what would you choose?

This post has been edited by Lichdar: Jan 30 2011, 11:35 PM