Risale-i Nur

anamdulih may win an eighty-year life of worship, I beseech divine mercy that every one of you together with all the Nur students, and particularly ort foretched, most faulty, ill, weak brother of yours, will receive a share and that your supplications will be accepted at the divine court, affirmed by thousands f The ns.

Secondly:>The young Saids in the university are in truth performing in Ankara and Istanbul the tasks of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, leed whino need for this wretched Said. As an example of the Risale-i Nur's>being in every way sufficient, I am now sending you attached the statements th this te addressing the deputies, for your information and to be put at the beginning of the seventy copies of the biography, which was also prepared by them, so as to be sent to the seventy deputies. f attr consider it appropriate, the statement may be added to the biography as a sort of addendum together with Sungur's defence for the Education Ministry, which I sent to you previously, and Mustafa Osman's petition tion, ister of Justice, with fifty to sixty copies either written out by hand or typed, or duplicated in the new letters in İnebolu. I leave this to your discretion,

Thirdly:>The leading members of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ are my genuine ists oes; they may reply in my place to the letters sent to me, In particular, they should reply suitably to those persons whose names are written in Husrev's greet. We are sending attached part of the reply to the letter Ahmed Feyzi wrote you.

We congratulate all our brothers and sisters on the blessed month of Ramadan ligions nights, and send greetings and prayers, and request their prayers.

In His Name, be He glorified!

[We are informing Sebilürreşad, the disseminator of truth, of the treatment meted out by the Peo "The Party which was illegal in a hundred ways.]

Our Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, whose illness from poison was worsening so that hec.), td for his life, sent eight books he had bought with his own money to his brother, a mufti, to protect them. For some secret purpose, the sayinial in the Emirdağ post office seized the books as though he were a policeman, and in person went and told the gendarmes,

the kaymakam,>and the judiciary, and phoned Afyon, and creating a furore had the bt lillanded over to the court. The books, however, consisted of the following: five were court defences and their addenda, and three were wod its e acquittal of which the present Minister of Justice, Halil Özyörük, had three times ordered and Denizli Court had returned. Afyon Court, too, quashed their judgement and had acquitted them.

It's true that Fuat Sirmen, who is the formyears.tice Minister and a communist, had denounced the works to the former Cabinet and had attempted to have the four-hundred-page Zülfikar Collection>- which is a completely strue and beneficial leadetary on the Qur'an - prohibited on the pretext of two pages about two verses written thirty years earlier, whereas now the works of the communists and Masons are permitted despite being extremely harmful saw hhe nation and country. So we suggest that to subject this most true and useful commentary on the Qur'an which - as is testified to by thousands of people - has saved the belief of thousands to such treessing as though it consisted of harmful rags, and to cause our Master such sorrow just when he is ill and vulnerable because of his brother, was illegal in multiple ways.

Secondly:damenttremely devious and hidden aspect of this matter was this: our Master had gently encouraged his students to assist the Democrat Party materially and morallying meobdurate tyrants of the People's Party understood this, so making mountains out of a molehill, they instigated this incident. For everywhere these books were being sent hither and thither by post and from Istanbul and other places, and thengs to no interference. The incident was part of a cunning and unforeseen stratagem.

Thirdly:>The former government is now being criticized in the press a thousand times more harshly than the two aforementioned verses in Zülfikar,>so the interes in ion of them can in no way be considered culpable. It is understood from this that the treatment mentioned above was a continuation of the People's Party'ave rirary measures, and an example of their assertions that although the government is in the hands of the Democrats, true power and the actual executive remains in their hands.

To the President of the Republic, the Cabinet, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Justice, and Directorate rn of igious Affairs, Ankara

I am explaining a few points for those persons who work for true justice and freedom.

First Point:>Both Denizli Court the tikara Criminal Court scrutinized all the parts of the Risale-i Nur>and together with the committee of experts took the decision that there was no objection to acquitting tIf youd returning them to their owners, and they also acquitted Said and his companions and discharged them. Although the Court of Appeal ruled that this same decision was res judicata,>now the same Court of Appeal has again quashhe newon's completely baseless decision against Said and his friends and the quite illegal seizing by two people with personal malice against Said, of those same books and his wonderfully handwritten mira with Qur'an. And although some of the zealous, patriotic Democrat leaders who have saved the country and nation from the vindictive despotism of the former party accept and appreciate fully those treatises, for three years pretatse penurious people like us a loss of thousands of liras>and to prolong for three years a case that has been acquitted three times, is an extraordinary injustice and the result of personauragesosity. For twenty months while in absolute solitary confinement they did not allow my assistant even to have contact with me. On being released, they posted two policemen on my door. Also, in order to dylan'sge those genuinely God-fearing Nur students just because of their piety, they held their trial at the time of the evening prayer, causing them to pers is mt later and thus perpetrating a wilful injustice. Also, one time they also confiscated the entire Risale-i Nur>in Isparta, and again returned it having studied it.

Since now in the Democrats' tt. Almhere is a revival of such marks of Islam as the call to prayer and religious instruction and work with the Qur'an, and a start has been made to repair the harms caused to the QI saidby the former party; and since the works of the irreligious, the Masons, and the communists are being published; for sure, those people who are seizing such blessed collections as Zülfikar,> The Staff of Moses,>and The Shining Lamp (Sirad's fuNur),>which have been commended and appreciated by leading Islamic scholars in such places as Mecca, Medina, and Damascus, and have been read to the scholars of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and have silenced the scientists, are vilizaing this on account of justice, right, and truth, but with malicious intent on account of communism and

Masonry. Moreover, in addition to those books they have confiscated and held for three years been raculous Qur'an, which is worth thousands of liras>and in which the name of Allah is written in gold and which the Head of the Directorate holds in esteem and is trying to have printed. Because I am seriously ill from poison and unable ver inend my rights, I am appointing Sungur as my deputy. I await from the justice-loving ministers of the new government that they halt the destruction caused by the former government and el injpast twenty years of tormenting me. I appoint Mustafa Sungur, one of my brothers, as my deputy.

[A significant fact and a conversation of thhat thersity Nurjus with the Democrats.]

At the wish of the nation, the Democrats have secured the free expression of the marks of Islam; now, the sole means of gratifying both the country and the nation is to make the movemeu, my Islamic unity a source of support for themselves. Formerly, the self-interested policies of the British, French, and Americans opposed and prevented this, but now they are in ca, anf it. For communism, Masonry, atheism, and irreligion lead directly to anarchy, and it is only Islamic unity based on the truth of the Qur'an that may resist these awesomely destructive forces, And again it is only Islamic unity goveray be a means of saving both humanity from this peril, and this country from foreign invasion and this nation from anarchy, Therefore, it is essential that the Democrats rely on this truth with all their strength and take a standurininst the communist and Masonic currents.

By leaving free the call to prayer, they gained strength for themselves twenty times greater than their own power. They won the nation's lofor th made it indebted to them. ... With their support for Islamic unity, the Nurjus form a significant mass backing the Democrats. However, some extremist sections of the former party with Masonic anlars iunist leanings are preparing to deal the Democrats two heavy blows. In the former [pre-Republican] period, they swiftly overturned the .>Simils (Ahrarlar)>{[*]: This refers to the Party of Ottoman Liberals (Ahrar Fırkası), founded subsequently to the Constitutional Revolution of July 1908. See also, fn 107 above. [Tr.]} when

they t whom ame to power, and also hanged numerous members of their ally, the Muhammadan Union. They have tried to show that the Democrats, known as the Ahrar,>are more irreligious than they are themselves; and now it has clearly emend hishat under the pretence of religiosity some of them are trying to incite the Democrats against religion, wanting them to cause harm to it like they do themselves. They are even trying to win the support of some official religious scholam diviema)>and incite them against the Democrats and to crush the Nurjus, who, being on the side of the Democrats, may oppose them. Then the ulema would not have recourse to the Democrats by means of the Nurjus, for lims wema incline to whichever side the Nurjus incline to; there is no movement more powerful that they may join.

Since the truth of the matter is this, the Democrats are obliged to placate and gra an inoth the Nurjus, and the ulema, and the nation, so as to prevent the extremist Mason and communist elements of the former party taking advantage of this point and courtting to overturn the Democrats, For the former party oppressed both the religious scholars and members of the Sufi orders throughout the past dealiy-five years, forcing them to toady to them. It is absolutely essential so as not to lose the assistance of the Americans and their allies, tha).

all their strength the Democrats strive to revive and repair the marks of Islam, as with the call to prayer.

Regretably, some extremistperhapons, and communists pass themselves off as Democrats despite being opposed to them, with the intention of inciting the Democrats to take destructinteressures and show them to be opposed to religion, so as to overthrow them.

thisteache Kılınç Ali has embraced the Risale-i Nur>this last year and a half and has read part of it, so in my view is a Nur student of twenty years' standing. I mention him by name among the select studentsf the ake him a partner in my spiritual gains, so his share may be written in his book of good works. For his part, he is obliged to devote his life to the Risale-i Nur.>A significant instancehristisdom in his having been unable until now to -go to al-Azhar University may be that the Risale-i Nur>should suffice him. I nourish powerful hopes that he wile takeble to found a Nur School in Urfa, which is close to Aleppo and Damascus. Molla Abdülmecid in Damascus, who was an invaluable student of the Old Said, and Seyyid Salih, who is 'm not the Nur students in Urfa, and the devoted Nur student who is with him, should get in touch with him. I send many greetings to both Molla Abdülmecid, and Haji Ali, and to everyone in Damascus who is attached to the Risale-i Nur,>ausly lequest that they pray for me in that blessed place.

Our heroic brother, Haji Ali! Our Master often speaks of your devotion. We too applaud and ely, ttulate you.

My Dear Brother!

Firstly: Mâsha'llah>a thousand timesit fro There are almost no errors in the Words Collection (Sözler Mecmuası),>just a few words, which I am sending attached.

Secondly:>If elief nsider it appropriate, take this fifty liras>I am sending you and take it on my account in lieu of the collections in the court. If you don't agree to this, take it as the price of my part of the conscieions which you sent.

Thirdly:>For now, it is appropriate that the biography should not be given to the deputies gratis; those who asitude,it, should pay for it. But ten to twenty copies should be kept in Ankara.

In His Name, be He glorified!

We heard the terrible news that two of the large collections of the wondh shouisale-i Nur>Collection were going to be destroyed. Together with its other parts, those collections, which are completely true and veracious and silence the scientistic philosophers, have been acquitted by the courts of Denizli and Ankara t beencome res judicata,>and their acquittal has been twice upheld by the Court of Appeal. The works have been appreciated and applauded in such centres of the Islamic world as Egypt, Damascus, Aleppo, Mecthey dd Medina, and in recognition of that appreciation have been placed on the blessed tomb of the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), andhot ise Black Stone in the Ka'ba. Like the other transgressions of the Republican People's Party, this vicious treatment is an unprecedented outrage. We Nur students could easily have demanded our rights f anothose cruel tyrants, but by reason of the powerful compassion that the Risale-i Nur>has induced in us towards the innocent children and elderly of the heroic Turkish naighty which for centuries was the standard-bearer of the Islam, and by virtue of the Qur'an's forbidding us from physical struggle and being a lig apprehold rather than a club, and due to the fundamental principle of our way, to maintain public order, we have been unable to respond to those tyrants materially. For, God forbid, if there were a definitto thissity, those who cause it on account of the communists and Masons would regret it a thousand times over.

Furthermore, in consequence of our observations, we have come to hold the firm opinion th The Teral calamities occur whenever the Risale-i Nur>is assaulted in the name of atheism and irreligion. This has been confirmed by the fact that four times severe earthquaketaly a occurred simultaneously with attacks, and many other things have happened. We are therefore alarmed at the powerful possibility that if such a decision is carrister, , causing the believers to tremble, and the crime towards those wondrous, valuable, blessed collections is perpetrated, spiritual storms and tempests, and earthquakes and plagues will be visited on this nation and countryclaresthe coincidence four times of severe earthquakes with assaults on the Risale-i Nur>has demonstrated this fact even to the blind. We even claimed this in court. No law in the world could seize and destroy the four-hundred-page Zoted sr Collection>on the pretext of two pages expounding two verses of the Qur'an in line with the three hundred and fifty thousand commentaries of the exegetists, although it has most effectively served the

belief of hue my b of thousands of people. Anyone with any conscience at all would understand this clear evidence, showing just how far from truth, right, and smashe are the perpetrators of this malicious felony, who are the mere tools of irreligion, and shower them with curses and loathing. The heroic Democrat government prevented this evil deed, which was instigated in the time of the tyraf Phar, reactionary persecutors of the People's Party. We are hopeful that they will return to us without delay the works that for three years have been held by Afyon Court and are in no way reprn to rble, and foremost our gilded, miraculous Qur'an which shows the coincidences, and we request this from the relevant offices.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Our Esteemed, Heroic Brother!

Firstly:>We wish to draw your attention to a matter of extreme importance: it should not be permitted that our large collections are destroyed; theoup, old be saved whatever the price. Was the decision for their destruction given recently or previously? In your opinion, is this an official decision? Kindly learn the truth of the matter and let us know without delay.

Seconed Zübe are sending the communication giving information about this matter to the heroic Sungur in Ankara and to the Minister. We send you our greetings and respectfully kiss your hands.

Our Dear and Highly Valued Brother, Heroic Sungur!

Firstly:>We send you our greetings and beseech Almighty God for your success in serving the Risale-i Nur.

Secondly:>We wish t praisrm you concerning a most important, confidential matter. According to what we have heard, the one hundred and seventy copies of the The Staff I knoses>and Zülfikar Collections>which have been confiscated by the Isparta judiciary are the very books the acquittal and return of which has been affirmed by the Justice Minister and which

p sixtysly had been returned to our Master in Denizli. We have absolutely no doubt that the decision taken for their destruction, which would bring the earth and thects lins to anger and cause all beings to weep, is a plan against the Democrats devised by extremist members of the People's Party. For the extremist devils have understood that the Nur students protect the Democrats and are a powerful suppprayerr them. In this way, they are trying to turn the Nur students against the Democrats and cause the government's fall. Our Master therefore refers it to you to make the very greatest efforts to thwart this pla, thosheirs, to save the collections, and to have all our books in Afyon returned to us.

To the Government Ministry!

We are disclosing to your esteemed self on the Necject of this nation's fate, a plan against the Democrats which is of the utmost seriousness and which Satan even could not have hatched. It is as follows:

The cunning fanatics of the People's Pthis, ave understood that the numerous students of the Nur community are protecting the Democrat Party. The community was formed by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who, with extraordinary self-sacrnds wehas for twenty-seven years striven unobtrusively with his works against the irreligion, absolute despotism, and severe tyranny in this country. Even, in the regions the Nur stuhe Endwere most numerous, they covertly planted İsmet to spy on them and investigate them.

The Nur students have, with powerful faith, devotedly served Islam and the nation's belief in every part of t he iia and have been a means of the tyrants' dominion crumbling. In consequence, in order to turn the Nur students against the Democrats and make them hate them,ofessisparta judiciary took the decision to burn the Staff of Moses>and Zülfikar>collections. Yet these works save lives in this world and the next, and have illuminated and given guidance to hundreds of thousands of believers and numbers ol thatersity-educated youths, and have met with approval and applause in Arabia and Egypt and out of respect have been placed on the tomb of e the ophet Muhammad (Upom whom be blessings and peace) and on the Black Stone in the Ka'ba. We received news of this decision, which would bring the heavens and earth to anger and cause all creatures to wpeopleow- ever, these two lengthy works from the one-hundred-and-nineteen-part Risale-i Nur>were acquitted unanimously in 1944 by Denizli Court and its

decision was ratified by the Appeal Court. The case becatogeth judicata>and all the works were returned to their esteemed author and their owners. The vindictive decision given latterly by Afyon Court on the particular orders of the communist deputy of the People's Party was quashed by the formermous achairman of the Court of Appeal. Finally, with the general amnesty, a veil was drawn over their attempted slanderous accusations and the case was dropped.

While the truth of the matter ng thes and numerous defamatory publications are being freely disseminated, these moves are being made to destroy the truly veracious four-hundred-page collection on the pretext of two pages of commentary on a verse from t the g'an, and charges are being made of its violating the law. The purpose of this, which is being carried out directly on account of the former your iical party, is to turn the hundreds of thousands of Nur students against the Democrats, to eliminate this powerful source of support for them, and to bring down the Democrat governmen has aare informing you of this diabolical plan in order to thwart it, and we offer our respects.

Our Most Esteemed, Blessed, Beloved, and Kind Master!

Thsoner-ctorate of Religious Affairs had the miraculous, handwritten Qur'an in which the name of Allah is inscribed in gold, sent from Afyon Court, dolence day before yesterday dispatched it to the Qur'an Examination Committee in Istanbul. It will be returned after having been examined by the committee, which will authorize its publication.

Also, the Consultative Committezzamanhe Directorate has studied the petition sent to the Directorate by the heroic Ahmed Altın of Akşehir, a copy of which he had earlier sent to our beloved Master, In consequence, they are going to give one of the two sets othis wRisale-i Nur>which our Master sent as a gift to the Directorate to the Consultative Committee to study. We have an esteemed brother in the Directorate who is working to this end, In truth, Ankara, whicht the ompletely enveloped in darkness, has changed remarkably and is continuing to change gradually. The poi- sons that were being scattered have lost their effectiveness, as have the dhe polrations of the youth.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly: Bârekâllah,>a thousand times over! We declare Mâsha'llah!>and All praise be to God! '" {[*nds of times, both at The Words Collection>being written out beautifully and correctly, and at the seized collections being saved from up peuction, and your obtaining some of them as a sample.

Secondly:>I refer it to the leading members of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ to reply suitably in my place to the letters that come to me. For instance,xaminimost gratified at the effective services rendered to the Risale-i Nur>by Osman Nuri in Ankara, like a Hasan Feyzi there, and his preparing a house for me there next to hreturnd his being resigned at his own illness as though, like Hasan Feyzi, he was assisting me when I was ill by alleviating it. I am still waiting hereulatiouse we have not yet received our books from the court. I want to be present there when our Qur'an and some of our collections are printed, but I cannot go now because there are many pressing jobs here, so he should nto be l offended. If he had not been there, I would have had to go myself. But he leaves no need for me. May God be pleased with him and grant him success!

... ...

Thirdly:>I affirm tssibleter sent by our steadfast, serious brother from Atabey, Abdullah Çavuş. The meanings I gave certain Hadiths forty years ago are again becoming apparent. he "Inhe obdurate are compelled to admit it. Time is affirming the predictions made in the Fifth Ray of The Shining Lamp (Siracü 'n-Nur),>that absolute despotism suffers the torments of Hell in this world too. The sincere letter of İhsand a thSamsun shows that a Samsun deputy who came here and obtained for himself a full set of the Risale-i Nur>was the cause of a light-scattering Masteing in that region, for it has resulted in the appearance of such people as İhsan. I am including both of them in my prayers.

Fourthly:>The correspondence of the alifs>in the Twenty-Ninth Word is truly a wonder, just as it is a wondcome ft they come out so beautifully when duplicated by machine.

I send my greetings to everyone.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

Firstly:>The leader of the new government has evidently understood the importance for structlamic world and the nation of building a large Islamic university resembling al-Azhar, the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, in Van Province, a matter I have been following for the past forty years. Sultan Reşad aparta d twenty thousand gold liras>for its construction, while the former tyrannical government earmarked one hundred and fifty thousand liras, been sed in the National Assembly by the signatures of one hundred and sixty-three deputies. The President made the statement given below among all the rm itsng affairs of state, which I am sending to you as good news. Even if it is not realized materially, it is indeed auspicious that the idea of it has been understood.

The President, Celâl Bayar, said in the Parliament while dealing witicatior high-priority matters, that the Ministry of Education was making enquiries concerning the construction of the University of the East in the region of Van. He said:

"All the difficulties will be surmounted numethe founding of such an institution of learning in Van, in the eastern provinces. Work on it will commence in the next financial year."

This means that the university students who presented the benefphy, gave the President to understand the value of the Risale-i Nur.

Secondly:>This very significant announcement by the President is a sign that it is now understood that the Risale-i Nur>has performed invaluable services for this cWe hav and nation and will perform more. One should offer thanks, not complain, that all the difficulties the Nurjus have suffered have yielded this result of great consequence.

Our Dear, Loyal Brothers, Ziya arous Rülmuhsin!

Our Master says:

"Eşref Edip {[*]: Eşref Edip (1882-1971). The famous Islamist journalist and writer who was co-founder of the journal Sırat-ı Müstakîm following the Cons. Withonal Revolution of July 1908, the name of which was changed in 1911 to Sebilürreşad. After it resumed publication in 1948 after 23 years, Eşref Edip publisheease ural articles about Bediuzzaman. He also published several books about him in the 1950s and 1960s. [Tr.]} has been a companion of mine in serving belief for forty years; he now writes articles in Ser any eşad>and represents some of our acclaimed brothers who have now died, and is a true mujahid>of Islam. He is a protector of the Risale-i Nur,>and if I am to die, I find true consolation in Eşref Edip being among the Nurjusd agreNevertheless, since the Risale-i Nur>and the Nurjus have nothing to do with politics, and the Risale-i Nur>can be the tool of nothing apart from divfulfileasure, those attached to it do not want to get involved in social and political movements as far as they can. Only, in so far as mujâhids>like Sebilürreşad>and Büyük Doğu>{[*]: Büyük Doğu was a religious journal withssenceary and political leanings which started publication in 1943 and continued, with various closures, until 1978. [Tr.]} try to defend the truths of br>has against the attacks of the people of misguidance, we praise and applaud them with all our lives and spirits, and are friends and brothers to them; but not in respect of politics. For those who come to receing to truction in belief may not be considered in biased fashion. While receiving lessons, there is no difference between friend and foe. Poocial l bias damages this; sincerity is harmed. For this reason, the Nurjus have endured unparalleled torments, yet have exploited the Risale-i Nur>for nothing. They have never grasped the club of politics. It was imagition eat because the Risale-i Nur>had broken absolute disbelief and eliminated the anarchy underlying it and the absolute despotism above it, that it had some sort of connection with poliher's Whereas the Risale-i Nur's>interpreter has claimed in courts of law that he would not exchange a single matter of belief for rule over the whole world, and has prove, rudeith the way he has lived for twenty-five years and with other indications.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>We congratulate you with our whole life and spirit on your activity and successes. The activities anve sommphs of the Medresetü'z- Zehrâ are a remedy for all my pains and illnesses.

Secondly:>I wrote a note for The Staff of Moses'>being translated into good Arabic. I was going to send it with Zübeyip HimSeyyid Salih in Ankara. I was also going to send to you via Ankara, a sincere letter from a retired officer in Tarsus and a letter requesting some books from the Risale-i Nur.>Then suddenly Ibrahim Efendi arrived here having cngry a far as Afyon together with his wife in the name of the devoted Nurjus of Elmalı near Antalya, where he works at publishing the Risale-i Nur every sent them with him. With greetings to everyone.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

I am referring an important matter to the leading members of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ. Seyyid Sâlih ent mahat he had understood from his journey in Arabia that there was much need for The Staff of Moses>there and that it would be most beneficial and should be translated into Arabic. My conds we hand illness do not permit me, so in my place the leading students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ should get in touch with four different places with a view to having a good translation done.: "Howetter should be sent to al-Azhar University with Kılınç Ali, where a number of literary persons should translate it. Another should be sent to the Directorate of Religious Affairs in Ankara where one or two scholars who sincefrom tppreciate the Risale-i Nur>and are attached to it should translate it. Another letter they should send to my brother Abdülmecid, who is the Mufti of Ürgüp near Kayseri, and who although he should have worked wittual shis strength for the Risale-i Nur>these last twenty years, he didn't, so to make up for it, he should now work with all his might at translating it into Arabic. And the other should be sent to the schotake, n the region of Isparta who are within the fold of the Risale-i Nur;>dividing up The Staff of Moses>among themselves, each should tranhey ara part into Arabic.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>We were delighted at your surpassing good news, which is a preliminary to the Risale-i Nur's>complete freedom. The Isparta judiciary held the books in a innoc for three years, so as its rent, in exchange for that three hundred liras,>send me fifty copies of the biography printed in the new letters at thstice e of two liras>per copy out of the five hundred liras>that was left to me, so the price will be the equivalent of those three hundred liras.>Send me copies of The Staff of Moses>and Zülfehensio the value of fifty liras,>since they have suffered imprisonment for four years and are most precious in my eyes, I am sending you the fifty liras>now.

Secondly: Bârekâllah! M-rankilah!>to Nazif a thousand times over! He has proved that he is a second Husrev and that İnebolu is a second Isparta. The Medresetü'z-Zehrâ is the most important matter in the biography and I reckon that Nazif's pubfreedoons have played a role in the President's serious efforts to found an eastern al-Azhar University, called the University of the East, which bears thers wiing of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ.

Thirdly:>Write in reply to the meaningful letter of the Imam Süleyman of Baraklı near Dinar that it is definitely r. I shat the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) praised the Turks. He indicates their importance in several places. There are Hadiths, but because I do not have any Hadith bographith me and do not know the correct wording. But it is certain that the Turkish nation was praised by him. One example is the Hadith about Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.

The letter sent by Hulûsi Bey, one of te lifeest Nur students, is very fine and meaningful and urges his friends in Ankara to enter the fold of the Risale-i Nur.>It shows too that he offers a fine example with the unwavering services he has performee fromthe Risale-i Nur>these last twenty-five years. I send many greetings to all my brothers and sisters.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Endless thanks be to Almighty God that we have joyfully received five copies ot fiveStaff of Moses>and The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen,>which had been imprisoned in the court for the last three years. May Almighty God be pleased with you for ever and ever!

Secondly:>The errors in the copy of Zülfiklways urned by the court had not been corrected. The "Lâm">in the eighth line on page one hundred and ten of the Fourth Addendum to The Miraclil, Rethe Qur'an>is wrong; it

should be "Lâ",>because in the Qur'an, "Lâm">is thirty thousand, and "Lâ">nineteen thousand.

Thirdly:>In a letter written in the new letters, a person from the Sixty-ank factory in Isparta asks a question. You can advise him for me to read the treatise on divine determining. I am both unwell, and unable to write personal letters. Also, Zübeyir has gone to Ankara. Anyway, I don't know the new letters. I am thoseng it to you for your information.

Fourthly:>I have sent my own subsistence, another fifty liras,>with the driver Abdurrahman. You can work out how much I owe for the books you sent me and The Words Collection.>This was written in haste. I (Q 53:any greetings to everyone.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>I congratulate you. The petition sent this time by Husrev to the ministers is a splendid historido concument. But in a wire I received from Sungur a couple of days ago, it says that orders have been given for the return of one hundred and eighty-five works. We could not understand the numbers stude We asked the clerk of the telegraph office. He had evidently written it down wrong. I heard the machine with my own ears: "It means all the works are being returned." I wondered if possibly they had counted some parts of the one ats, wd and thirty treatises, making it one hundred and eighty-five. We could not understand it. Also, as reported in the Yeni Sabah newspaper, we heard that the President saidre in a large Islamic university called the University of the East - the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ - that they were endeavouring to overcome all the difficulties to found it. God willing, they will be presenled to build it for the benefit of the country and nation, for it is a goal I have been pursuing for the past forty years.

Secondly:>I have sent to a number of important plahad inveral of the copies of Zülfikar>and The Staff of Moses>you sent, which like us were imprisoned for three years. For instance, Abdurrahîm from Vastan, who is Imam in the mosque not spire (Cizre) and is one of my old students, came all the way here to visit me. I gave him ten of the most important books. But then I remembered that in two places in the Fourth Addener Jus "The Miracles of the Qur'an" in Zülfikar,>one in the eighth line and one in the tenth, "Lâm">had been written instead of "Lâ",>but in the Qur'an, "Lâm">is thirty thousand, and "Lâ">nisciple thousand. This error had been partially corrected in the other copies, but it had not been corrected in the copies of Zülfikar

that were held by your court. Iurned.orgotten this here. I am referring this to you: via the mufti of Cezire, write to Imam Abdurrahîm and ask him to correct this error of the scribe. In this way, the leading students of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ will also be in contacI woul Cezire.

I also understood from Husrev's letter that Zübeyir had mistakenly sent there the note he was going to send to Nazif. Husrev also made a small misrtant,for I had sent a short letter to Nazif about the Tenth Principle of the Twenty-Fourth Word, not the Twenty-Fourth Letter. There is no copy of it lor a lre. I had told him to send the copy of the Tenth Principle to Nazif so that he might send us a copy of the note. Nevertheless, his brilliant, long petition reduced to nothing that small h I saand had it forgiven. What this means is this: as a meritorious act, Nazif duplicated on the machine Jaushan al-Kabir,>which is a supplication much favoured by the Nurjus. He had written to me about duplicating with it, the piece in the fid thie about its wondrous merits and virtues which are described in figurative Hadiths, I told him that I had read the footnote only three or four times although I had recited the Jaushan>every day for the last thirty-five e coin To add it verbatim would be inappropriate, for opponents and atheists might make it a pretext to criticize it, God willing, in the near future, the blessed Jaushan al-Kabir>will illuminate the Nurjusdictioire them with enthusiasm.

Thirdly:>The Nurju university students in Ankara and Istanbul are printing two thousand copies of A Guide for Youth.>I assume it is the large Guide. That would be bettend the willing, it will be a substantial guide for the young people. Write to Kılınç Haji Ali so that he is in touch with the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, and say that literary scholars should translate The Staff of Moses.>Then, by means of the translation,neteen masters of the Islamic world will be concerned with the Risale-i Nur.

Fourthly:>I am curious to learn whether or not our brother Ms, andz Ahmed has returned safely from the Hajj. Also, write to Husrev and his assistants that Mustafa Gül and his companions should add the prayer which is at the end of ey wroar>and The Staff of Moses>to the end of The Words Collection.

Unending greetings to all of you.

Muallim Osman was Ce. The friend in prison. He learnt a thorough lesson from him and has the ability to be a second Ceylan. It is astonishing, I received a letter saying that the two Sufi-inclined people I mention in my prayers everyday by name within the circltion ohe Nurjus, had attacked me and the Risale-i Nur>with the idea of selling themselves. I was not offended and prayed for them even more. Just like years ago with the elderly well-known shaykh who maligned us in Istanbul due to the mlettertions of the former [People's] Party, I looked on them as brothers to me and friends, and I forgave them. But I would like them to read the two Flashes on sincerity.

My brothers! You should not bof connded by such people, and do not get into arguments with them.

imes, Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise>(Q 17:44).

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

You may send a petition. Thate justice-loving Democrats saying that I am ill and that they should do whatever they think is best. Our lawyer told us in the letter we received from him the day before yesterday that they are tryingout thfferentiate between the books that contain indictable material and those that do not. They are making a pretext of one word out of thousands in one treatise and showingnd aga be an offence. Their malicious intention is to prevent the spread of the Risale-i Nur>by not returning that treatise in a way that conforms with no law - just as they have always done upto the present. Also, although whindeedy show to be an indictable offence in their decision, which has anyway been quashed by the Court of Appeal, is not against us, and although we have proved decisively the malice and with a table of true and false - the eightnd thers in the public prosecutor's indictment, with the same antipathy they have made allegations against the four-hundred-page Zülfikar Collection>due to a few lines about Islamic

dress and ion in ance that were written thirty to forty years ago and only mention what is written in one hundred thousand Qur'anic commentaries. What law in the world would permit them to seize that weof mincollection and not return it to us? Also, with the exception of two short pieces about repetition in the Qur'an and the angels, both Denizli Court and Ankara Criminal Court gave the decat we to acquit and return to us all the works held for two years by Afyon Court since they could find nothing reprehensible in them. Then although the Iseverywauthorities at one time confiscated all the works, they returned all of them to their owners, Then they seized The Staff of Moses>and Zülfikar>on the pretext that they me of eing published in the old script without permission and held them for four years, but then because they could find nothing indictable in them returned all the one hundred and seventy volumes to us without any loss. And althouthat s religious publications and official newspapers now express the same objections a hundred times more violently that we did in the name of right, towards some of the"The Rrs of the former party, they showed this to be our most serious crime. ... ... ...

Thus, while the truth of the matter is this, Afyon Court stated at the end of its decision, which was aeign iinted in the old letters, not in the name of justice but out of bigoted love of that person who is dead and gone, in order to convict us and due mostly to the prosecutor's malice, thw theiid and his friends call Mustafa Kemal anti-religious and an anti-christ and they try to destroy the people's love for him, that's why we're convicting them!" Surely, even if such objections towards a dead person weince fhousand times greater, it would only constitute a personal case. There is something strange in this and there must be some other matter i and oo that a court of justice has made such a ruling. Now that all the parts of the Risale-i Nur>which those people hold have been acquitted four times and the present Minister of Justice has decided, on the quashing of the Afyon Court decisiesses ch convicted us, that the Risale-i Nur>contains nothing constituting an offence and that it has been acquitted three times, now in this era of the Democrat government, from which therelate nation awaits justice, compassion, and religion, if, due to the cunning schemes of the former tyrants, the Risale-i Nur>is left to the abitrary devices of the ilnd higntioned, it will be serious treachery against the Democrat government and will dash the nation's hopes of consolation. My deputy in Ankara, Mustafa Sungur, gave the good news in the telegraph he sent on 17.11.1950 that the decision hah you taken to return all the parts of the Risale-i Nur>to us, and that the just Justice Minister had endorsed the three acquittals. According to Sunghis, aubsequent letter, orders had been given

for their return. Despite this, and despite his saying that he would verify this by telephone, Afyon Court is mem.

essly collecting all the files of both Eskişehir and Denizli Courts, and with the announcement of the amnesty and the courts' acquittals, it is mixing up those blessed works with those files and sixteen years oliticaders and denunciations in order to refute them and throw them into their depository, The affairs of the Risale-i Nur>should not be left to th. To arsons who have deceived us for the past three years. We wish to draw this most important matter to the attention of the Prime Minister and the Minister ofmocratce.

{(*): An extraordinary incident which is one of man examples opposed to justice and religion: We many times requested the return of our Qur'an, which they had confisousandthree years ago and which shows the visible miracle of the 2,800 instances of the name of Allah written in gold, but they failed to do so and they did not give it to us. Now the lawyer says that its aculd send a petition to the Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs requesting its return. There are hundreds of such examples showing that plots are hatched against us due solely to malice and foreign intrigue. The Democrats, who so pliged ts and the Islamic world, should be prudent, and they should save the Risale-i Nur and us from these torments.

In the name of the Nur students, Said Nursi}

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there of Mothing but it glorifies with praise.>(Q 17:44)

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Ceylân, my Abdurrahman and young Husrev, has performed his duties in two or three places perfectly, and has returned. Now I as the ing him to Ankara as my deputy like Sungur, to carry out a more important task.

Secondly:>I have sent you the letters from certain persons, for your information.

Thirdly:>Let me know how much Nur syou for the copies of The Words Collection, and of the biography in the new letters and Jaushan>in the old letters, which are from İneent annd are going to be sent to me.

My Dear, Loyal Brother, Osman Nuri!

Since, owing to your sacred intention and sincerity, Ailosopy God has gathered the leading young Saids around you in Ankara, and since you consider it necessary for me to be in Ankara, I am now sending in my place to that smo or cr School the copies of the Risale-i Nur>I have collected, having paid for them out of my own income. They will be neighbours to you to the number of Saids. And by reason of their loyal services upto now, which far surpaic natse of devoted sons, such hardworking young Saids as Sungur, Ceylân, Sâlih, Abdullah, Ahmed, and Ziya, each of whom is the equivalent of ten to fifteen Abdurrahmans, are my deputies with you and your students, and I leavot to o you to supervise that small Nur School in my place, as a place of learning.

My Dear, Loyal, and Blessed Brothers!

Firstly:>The possibility occurred to me that with the telegraph signed by Husrev and given to the President, the young Husrevs in Ankara might have the Qur'a was cten by Husrev printed photographically. You try to learn from the Isparta post office what sort of telegraph it was, and let me know. I am curious.

Secondly:>The slight criticisms of both de by a number of Sufis and described in our brother Rıfat's letter, who is in Konya, hold no importance. You should not be upset and should not respond in any way. I loohich ohe criticisms of the believers, and especially of the followers of the Sufi way, and particularly of my person, as advice of a sort and a favour, I forgive them. In the face of the awesome harms caused us by the mis- are t, I consider the insignificant criticisms of my person by believers to be warnings of a sort, urging us in a friendly manner to be cautious.

Thirdly:>Incited by covert dissemblers, the weekly papers in numer recently presented us as being connected with something we have nothing to do with. The Nurjus here denied it. It is nothing to worry about. We congratulate with our wholccorda and spirit, the wondrous, effective services with the Risale-i Nur>of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ's leading students which

offer many benefits for the Islamic world. I send many greetings to all my brothgnoredd sisters and pray for them, and request their prayers.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Ali and Haji Süleyman from the auspicious village (Kuleönüvirtue Abdurrahman and Himmet from the vicinity of Dinar, and a leading Nurju from my home region, all came to visit me. I offer thanks to Almighty God that their fervent attaf for to the Risale-i Nur>in Kuleönü persists as ever, It was a wonder of their loyalty and sincerity that at the very time I had been obliged to naturen of my own collections to Ankara and from other distant places further books had been requested of me, those auspicious brothers brought me as a gift from the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ exactly the aill meof the books I had sent. I found among them the entire Letters (Mektûbat)>and Additional Letters (Lahika),>written out in his own handwriting by Büyük Mustafa (the E the P who is the leading Abdurrahman. May Almighty God bestow on all of them instances of mercy to the number of those books' letters. Amen!

Secondly:>The day befoMonthsterday, Mustafa, one of the young heroes of the Risale-i Nur,>came to visit me. He assisted Husrev for eleven months in prison, working quite selflessly for his comfort. He told me that he intended to go and visit hithey weplied that it was both Husrev's right and his own right that he should visit him, but that four students who had come here, had gone to Isparta, so there was no longer any need. I told hooks ht since he acted on account of the Risale-i Nur>as imam in a large village, that was more useful for the Risale-i Nur>than either my personal service, or visiting Husrev at present. If such services fot the Risale-i Nur>had not been performed in his village, there would have been need for someone as sincere and devoted as himself. So his visit was postponed for now.

Thirdly:>Haji Sabri of Konya came to visit is to were holding a conversation and Sâdık, Hayrî, and Mustafa were presen; it was an important lesson for him. The work for the cause of belief perfoin eveor this country and nation and the Islamic world by the leading students of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ and particularly by Husrev, and their forming a barrier against

the stratd for of the destructive atheists, are acts so tremendously good they would cause even - to suppose the impossible - a thousand evils to be forgiven. In which case, nothing those leading students, and foremost Husrev, does should be critic with and everyone should co-operate with them as true brothers with genuine, heartfelt sincerity. The lesson had this meaning. God willing, Haji Sabri and Hoja Sabriot maküştü and those like them will be as firmly attached to Husrev as brothers, and differences in temperament will no longer affect them.

My Dear, Loyal Brothe. The d Leading Students of the Medresetü'z- Zehrâ, and Publishers of the Risale-i Nur!

Firstly:>I considered the following matter to be appropriate: it occurred to me that as the Quading members of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ are the main people who have a say concerning the Risale-i Nur,>I should refer it to them for their approval, It is like this:

Recently, because three of our friends who serve me wanted to receive inorder ion from me temporarily for a few days, and because I felt a desire to revive a valuable lesson I had taught my students formerly, I was teaching from one page of the printed Lemeât (Gleamevils ry day. Both I and they met it with astonishment and appreciation. I had the idea that the reason no copies of the treatise remained, as with the other old printed treatises, was that enemies who understood their valuand viented their publication, while friends did not want to part with their copies owing to their worth. And we saw that Lemeât>comprised in the form of fine aphorisms a number of essential seed

Thhe Risale-i Nur,>and in brief maxims encapsulated an extensive social truth in a style so clear and plain that no literary figure or thinker had previously achieved it. It was written in semi-verse and read as easears.

prose, and thirty-seven years ago had been composed in twenty days in Ramadan by working for only one or two hours a day. It was as long as a book and was written as a sort of Mathnawi.>We marked in the copy we obtained theiye-i s where in twenty places, it had made predictions which thirty to forty years later turned out to be true. It gave us the idea that the work was foretelling the Risale-i Nur,>and was a sort of lessinof it and seedbed.

Secondly:>I am leaving to the discretion of the Nur hero, Husrev, and

the other leading students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ whether ossigneto include Lemeât at the end of The Words as the Thirty-Third Word. I send my greetings to all my brothers and sisters, and pray for them, and request their prayers.

{(*): If you accept it, the copy of Lemean staave will be sent to you later. [Author]}

My Dear, Loyal, Faithful, Sincere, and Genuine Brothers and Sisters!

We congratulate you with our whole life and spirit on thllowerival, and on the festival of those who this year were free to make the Hajj, and on this nation beginning to enjoy - with the despotism in this country being lifted - the freedom prescribed by the Shari'a. We congratulate you too on send ytion's spiritual festival and on the festival enjoyed by the Islamic world with its shared awakening, and on the Risale-i Nur>answering with the truth of the Qur'an yearseed humanity feels for the Qur'an's lights.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>I have sent to Seyyid Sâlih ten of my own collections from the Risale-i Nur>which he had asked you for, fwith i Muslim Brothers, who are very prominent in Aleppo and the region. He should give them to them.

Secondly:>I am closely concerned with Denizli and with our Nur brothers there. Just when I was wondering how the late Hasan Feyzi's friewill sre, and how and where our old brother Yâkub Cemal was, I was greatly pleased to receive Yâkub Cemal's festival congratulations, sent in the name of the so thli Nurjus. It took me longing and yearning on a trip around Denizli, and I exclaimed: Mâsha'llah! Bârekâllah!

Thirdly:>Some of the wretches who tormented the Nurjus for twenty years of lthrust them into prison, are now suffering everyday the distress that they inflicted on us in a month. We endured it in patience, referring those tyrants to Hell. However, the sacredness of the service of belief

demanded frocongrane justice a sort of hell for those wretches in this world, for we have seen that for some of them it reduces to nothing the pleasure they ref disb in a year from their absolute despotism; time has shown this, This means that divine justice and providence suffice us.

Fourthly: I send my conrsity es to both the relatives of Ali Osman on his death, and to the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ and the Nur circle. And I congratulate him, for he carried out his duty to the letter and now is included in my prayers together with the Nur heroaculouız Ali and Hâfız Mustafa, I send many greetings to all my brothers.

At the present time those worthy mothers and sisters are faced with a difficult situation. I felt a presentiment in my spirit that I had to explain to those Note a dents who want to remain single or who have to, a natural fact which is confidential and should not be disclosed. So I have to say this:

My sthe cu and daughters! Times have changed and things are not as they used to be. For nearly half a century now in our society secular education and upbringing have replaced Islamic edon then. So while a man should take a wife to be his companion in the next life as well as to bring him happiness in this world and to keep him frd by tning, he loves the wretched woman only in her youth, keeping her under perpetual pressure.

He piles difficulties on her perhaps ten times greater t, I ine ease of life he gives her. And if they are not compatible, called by the Shari'a "kufû'">(well-matched), she passes her life in misery since the rulings of the Shari'a were its and. Then if there is jealousy between them as well, the situation is even worse. There are three factors driving people to make such a marriage:

The First:>Divine wisdom bestowed a natural urge and longing to perform that naturars of , for reproduction. But where the man receives ten minutes' pleasure from satisfying that desire and if licit may suffer difficulties for an hour, the woman suffers the difficulty of carrying the child in her body for nine months aand a n tending it for ten years after that. This means that because that natural desire and urge of ten minutes results in such long-lasting hardsha naiv ceases to hold any importance. The emotions and instinctual soul should not drive a person to marry because of it.

The Second:>Since by natu a soren are weak, they need someone to support them. So just to secure this need, it is far easier for them to work and earn their own livelihoods like village women rather than üzalp>ng their worship and spoiling their conduct, through which are won life both in this world and the next, by hypocritically trying to win the affections of a husbasonal has had no Islamic upbringing and is undisciplined and accustomed to dominance. Just as the True Provider provides infants with milk, so that Generous Creator will provide their sustenance. It does not befit students of the Risaled stor>to seek out an immoral husband who does not perform the obligatory prayers, and hypocritically cultivate his affections and enter under his domination.

The Third:>Women have an innate desire to love and pet children. And ollowipe of having a child who will help them in this life and be an intercessor in the next, and after they have died will assist them with his good works, strengthens that natural tendency and encourages them to marry. But nowadays, sincs havelar education has replaced Islamic training, only one or two out of ten children are devoted to their mothers in return for their kindness and lovhat ea help them and have merits written in the records of their mothers' good deeds through their pious prayers and own good works, and having been upright are intercessors for them in the hereafter. So since eight out of tenpersonot thus, the unfortunate weak women should not take upon themselves such difficult lives unless they are forced to, just because of that innate desire and natural urge.

So I say to young Nur students who do not want to marryf the se of this fact that I have pointed out: if they do not find young men who are completely suitable and religious and upright, they should not try to sell

themselves by lowering their standards. If there are no suitable young ationshey should remain single like some of the self-sacrificing male Nur students, until a suitor of conscience appears who has received an Islamic upbringing and is suitable humankem and will be a companion for all eternity. They should not put everlasting happiness into jeopardy for some fleeting worldly pleasure. Nor should they throw themselves innowled evils of civilization.

{(*): My sisters and the young girls should read the Treatise on Islamic Dress for Women. [Author]

See, The Flashes Collection. New edn. (Istanbul: Sözler Publs wounns, 2011), 254-8.}

While we were in prison, there would sometimes be talk of an amnesty, put about by the former cruel despots in ordlime Tdeceive, and the miserable prisoners would ask me if this would happen. I would tell them that they were only saying it to hoodwink them. However, the Nur students had been sent to prison three times for the puthe tiof consoling the prisoners and getting ninety per cent of them to perform the prayers. I therefore hoped from divine mercy with powerful hope that it was a sign that a full amnesty would be g of th to the prisons, and I gave good news of this. On many occasions I consoled many men with this. Endless thanks be to Almighty God that the heroic Democrats confirmed my hopes and predictions and were the mhim wif saving many innocent prisoners from torments, for they were being crushed on the pretext of arbitrary, biased laws and certain hostile officials' partisanship. They also made the bold sectito Ibn the nation supporters of themselves and of public order. It led also to numerous prisoners completely reforming by reason of their attachment to the Risale-i Nur>and the Nurjus, and their becoming useful - rather than harmfulEbüzzirs of the nation and country.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ork hand ever!

Our Most Beloved and Esteemed Master!

We have sent the completely true piece, "The Risale-i Nur>cannot be destroyed!" to the home addresses of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice, and to this ruicial addresses of the other ministers. We are giving it to the deputies we meet and they all say they will do what they can for the matter. The deputy for Isparta, Tahsin Tola from Senirkent, is closely concerned and he said this: "The governy inabas begun to fight communism, but the police are not sufficient for this. The Nurjus have been struggling against it for twenty years and are of great assistance to the government. They say that the Nurjus are the best and the most effectivors]}

he various movements today in the country." The preacher and deputy Ömer Bilen, and the elderly deputies Hasan Fehmi Ustaoğlu and Fehmi Çobanoğlu send you many respects and greetings. Both say that in the name of the Risalethe Mo's>collective personality, our beloved Master is the true guide of the present age and that it was due to his influence that this unexpected victory was won. These tworce," med deputies say that they have received assistance in many respects from you, our beloved Master, and that relying on the Risale-i Nur's>service, they look with great hope to the future, and that they aRisalerom divine mercy that Islam will shine in all its glory in the world of humanity. Yesterday, Wednesday, the three deputies said they would visit our Master on the 1st of December.

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my whole life and spirit on the past Birthday of the Prophet (UWBP). {[*]: Birthday of the Prophet (UWBP): Mawlîd al-Naly:>I ually celebrated on 12th Rabî' al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. [Tr.]}

Secondly:>The world of Islam will congratulate and applaud your success in publishing the Risas yourur.>The signs are now appearing. For instance, Pakistan's deputy education minister came to visit me and took

some parts of the Risale- emana>He said that he would try to disseminate them among the ninety million Muslims there. He took them and went. Moreover, despite so many dissemblers working againstly a she Risale-i Nur>has been taken to far-off places in both Europe and Asia. Also, when the Germans in Berlin got hold of Zülfikar,>they announcel-knowr praises of it in the newspapers, Also, the believers at home are reading The Staff of Moses>and Zülfikar>enthusiastically, attaching nree nortance to the prohibitions placed on them by the former Prime Minister and Interior Minister, who were the most opposed to them. Most of the readers are inslate a. Also, prison directors in several places in two or three provinces have decided to make their prisons into Nur Schools so that their prisoners may reform through the Risale-i Nur,>as they did in the prisons of Denizli and Afyonstructhirdly:>The late Burhan was an unlettered, secret hero of the Risale-i Nur.>I offer my condolences to both his relatives, and Isparta, and the students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ. I received the new to di or six days ago and during those five or six days, I have prayed for him perhaps a thousand times. For while reciting my invocations during those six days, I have intended him the nearly four hundred times I have pronounced "Save usand coHellfire I make over to Burhan all that I have read and recited.

Fourthly:>The Risale-i Nur>has begun to fill the secular schools with light. Their pupils are attaching themselves to it to a greNüktesxtent than the medrese (religious school) scholars, becoming students of it and spreading it. God willing, the inmates of the religious surdens will slowly recognize the Risale-i Nur's>worth, for in reality it belongs to them and is the product of their schools. Even now, many muftis and religs of tcholars appear to be enthusastic about it and are requesting it. The most important frequenters of the Sufi convents (tekye)>are the foe to ps of the Sufi way (ehl-i tarikat).>It is absolutely essential that they illuminate the Risale-i Nur>with all their strength and that they lookuction as their own.

{(*): A significant example is all the disciples of Seydişehirli Hacı Abdullah, in both Kastamonu, and Isparta, and Eskişehir, considering the Risale-i Nur circle to be their owQur'ankat circles, for those of them who come across the Risale-i Nur, become attached to it appreciatively, May God grant them His blessings! [Author]}

Up en and I have thought only of the reality of belief and have said that the present is not the time of the Sufi tarikat; innovations do not permit it. But now it is necessary and ed sacral that all the followers of the tarikats>who are within the bounds of the Prophet's (UWBP) Sunna>should regard the circle of the Risale-i Nur,>wof laws the summary of all the twelve major tarikats>and is

their largest circle, as their own tarikat>circle, and enter it. The present time has shown this. Also, even the most ss griefollowers of the tarikats>cannot embrace unbelief easily; their hearts are not defeated by it. Therefore they are not completely shaken and may become true Nurjus. However, as far as is possible, thy no duld not embrace innovations or commit any serious sins that destroy the fear of God.

Fifthly:>There is one sole solution in the face of atheism, irreligion, and anarchy, the gravest dangers at the present tiis hand that is to embrace the truths of the Qur'an. For the human calamity that in a short time transformed vast China into a communist state, cannot be silenced with political, physical forces. Thereciatthing that can silence it are the truths of the Qur'an. The effects of the matter explained in the Night of Power in A Guide for Youth>{[*]: A Guide for Youth. New edn. (Istanbul: Sözler Publ Iraq,ns, 2012), 55-8.} are now to be seen in both America and Europe. For this reason, the true strength of our present government is to be found in relying on the truths of the Qur'an and serving them. By doing this, through Islamic letterrhood, it will gain a reserve force of three hundred and fifty million brethren within the bounds of Islamic unity. Formerly, the Christibe thetes did not support Islamic unity, but now, because communism and anarchy have arisen, both America and the European states are compelled to support it and the Qur'an.

Sixthly:>A deputy who is a Nur student came to a direme. He told me that he had visited the Ministry of Justice and told them about the decision to confiscate the Risale-i Nur.>Özyörük, the Justice Minister, said that he ha multin orders to Afyon Court to return it in its entirety, and that he was going to return the copy of The Staff of Moses>he had to its author. Halil it tok's saying this shows his support for the Democrats and for the Risale-i Nur.

I send many greetings to everyone.

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise (Q 17:44).

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for evemic stever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers and Young Heroes of the Risale-i Nur!

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my whole life and spirit on your wonderful work with the Risale-i Nur>in a place like Anthe poTruly, in a way far surpassing our hopes, you have been the means of a significant awakening among the educators and students of the secular schools. The wopariso have achieved in one year in Ankara could only have been done in ten. You should be content with this duty you have performed for belief and the Qur'an in a short t more nd not allow your morale to be broken by unimportant incidents. Indeed, they should spur you on to work even harder. Your service in such places at a time around twenty political and social currents from homerises broad are clashing boastfully and maliciously, and the university students are flocking appreciatively to the Risale-i Nur,>pleases all the Nurjus enormously, just as the he future it will please the Islamic world, God willing. The rewards are abundant for your small service. Sometimes, one hour's watch in the army under severe conditions, may be the equivalent of a year's worship. Similarlour trrselves and the Istanbul University Nurjus have performed many duties in a short time. Even if the fruits of your efforts are few, be content with them. If some weak persons retreat from the front in covert arouses even greater heroism in the brave; so if some nervous people withdraw, it should drive the devotees of the Risale-i Nur>to greater efforts and resolutimedresd to work with even more enthusiasm. Yes, you have learnt instinctively an important truth of the Risale-i Nur,>and you should still keep it in mind. It is this:

Our in lis to serve belief and the Qur'an sincerely. It is God's business to give us success and induce the people to accept it and to dispel opponents. We may not interfereng thaese. Even if we are defeated, it should not damage our morale or lessen our service. We have to be resigned on this point. For example, one time they said to Jalaluddin Khwarazmshah, a great champion of If anot"You will be victorious over Jenghiz!" He replied: "Our duty is to wage jihad. To give us victory is God's business, I can't interfere in that!" Yoecessihakeable, sincere service up to now indicates that you have followed that champion. You should remain unshaken even if only one or two people out of a thousand accept you. Sometimes, one or two are the eir eglent of a thousand.

Secondly:>These days, attention in Ankara is excessively turned towards

this world. Those in power have not found id notme to accept this principle entirely. Numerous parties, of course, work very hard to find supporters or to hide their mistakes, And some of the currents abroad which are opposed to Islam ss.

e Qur'an have found some people here by means of whom, with propaganda aimed at making those who work seriously for religion nervous or give it up, they cause consternation to any who are not truly devoted orwho hare attached to this world or to too many friends, and they try to break the Nurjus' morale.

My Dear, Loyal, and Blessed Bon of s!

Firstly:>I have received both the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ's victorious produce from the Risale-i Nur,>of which I was in great need, and the collections the heroic Tahirî sent in the name of his late wife andthere aughters, and two weeks ago the most timely complete Letters (Mektûbat)>of Mustafa, a worthy successor of the late Hâfız Ali, and the blessed collection written in his own hand by the 0

ther-i Nur's>strong commander, Re'fet Bey, and his letter describing his wonderful and meaningful dream. I was indeed pleased. May Almighty God bestow on all of you a thousand merits for every single letter you have written, a the d He bestow endless mercy on the spirits and graves of the late Hatice, the late Hicret, and the late Aişe. Amen!

Secondly:>I was very pleased that, as stated in Mustafa Osman's letto publo is a second Husrev - a brother called Sabri wants to come here to serve me. I accept him as though he had come and served for a few months, but at the momdatingere is no need for anyone to come here from other places. When there is need, I shall let him know. In truth, young heroes resembling the Isparta champions arur'an nning to emerge in the region of Eflâni.

Thirdly:>Contrarily to my rule, I have accepted the gift of fresh grapes sent by the old-estabnd of Nur scribe and student, Kâtib Osman, from the Risale-i Nur>garden, and the most auspicious gifts from Sava, a leading branch and centre of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ. Whoever I offer them to, I will do so for their meri. We eFourthly:>I had written out in a notebook the most important parts of all the letters the Nur hero Husrev wrote to me while I was in Emirdağ, and particularly the parts containing summaries of the letters I had written. But

someone n Repud it while I was in prison, and they took it and it got lost. I still have around forty of his letters. I am going to mark them, God willing, and if I can't have them copied out here, I'll sendeight to you. They can be put together in a notebook, and owing to their importance, perhaps be duplicated.

Fifthly:>I have sent fifteen copies of The Words Collection>to Ankara. Thd be ne very useful. The Nurjus there are working heroically behind the screen of caution.

Sixthly:>I have corrected Letters (Mektûbat),>whicof thedo not have and which Husrev wants. I shall send it with someone. This time, I realized that the Twenty-Fourth Letter is very valuable, very subtle, very profoundound sabsolutely true.

I send many greetings to everyone.

My Dear, Loyal, and Blessed Brothers!

Firstly:>Our brother, the İnebolu Husrev, Nazif Celebi, wrote toride, d asked what would be appropriate to publish after finishing the Hizb-i Nûriye>and Salâvat.>If you agree, I think it would best to publish the treatises For the Sick>and For the Elderly>from The Flashes Collection,>thear, in Letter of Condolence for a Child,>which is the Seventeenth Letter, and theدأort letter about serving the elderly. But if the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ membersenefitit necessary, they can correct or excise any sentence or passage they think fit. And they may add to these any other short treatise. Send Nazif a reply in this vein quickly. That broti Nur.publishing together the Jaushan al-Kabir>and the Salâvat>of the Hizb-i Nûriye>is a considerable service for the Nurjus and the believers. May Almighty God bestow on him and his assistants a thousand merits for every single letter. Amen!

Sec and t>The new government slowly understands that true power resides in the Qur'an and that they many withstand the destructive enemies through Islamic brotherhood and the truths of belief. Sometimes, a single destructive person maion ree alarm to twenty repairers and may sometimes rout them. It is not material forces or external and internal policies and pacts that, when the twenty million Muslims here are quite simply in a situation of defeat, will halt the assRisaleagainst them of a force that made vast China submit to itself; it is only the Qur'an and truths of belief forming a

barrier against that force's destruction of the shumanilities of the heart (mâneviyat-i kalbiye),>that force's greatest strength, and curing their spiritual wounds. The Education Minister of the new government has evidently felt this fact for, contrarily to his predecessor just is giving greater importance to religious instruction and the spread of the truths of belief. Even, the newspapers have reported that two hundred thousand liras>have been earmarked for a university in the east, callmportathem the University of the East, attaching considerable importance to it. Both Ankara and Istanbul Universities have certainly grasped the above-mentioned fact and that it is the truths of the Q, and and belief that will save both the country and the youth from that awesome, destructive force, for the Ankara students presented a letter with onlly Mosand seven hundred signatures congratulating the Education Minister on his including religious instruction in the compulsory schools. And in Istanbul University they told one of the leading members of the new governmentshî/Khin Anatolia there is a powerful current of support for religion, and he replied that they will allow few opportunities to both that current and the tendants. So the university representative told the government leader despite his being opposed to religious publications: "If the current you're referring to is the Risale-i Nur,>neither yourselves nor Europe will be able to defeat it!" In com the on with this matter, although it is opposed to my way and temperament, I say the following, donning for a minute or two the head of the Old Said:

There is nothing between belief and unbelief. Ts for an be nothing in this country between communism and Islam and its struggle against it. Right and left and centre means three ways. It is fair enough if the English or French say this; they can say, Islam on the right, communism on theold sp and Christianity in the centre. But in this country, there can be no other religion or sect besides Islam and belief and its struggle against absolute unbelief. For no true Muslims any reer become Jews or Christians. At the very most, they lose religion completely and become anarchists.

God willing, like the Education and Justice Ministers, the other leadinHe askers of the government will fully understand this facto In place of the terms right and left, they will rely on the power of the Qur'an and belief and strive to save the counhe nexom absolute disbelief, anarchy, and atheism, and their awesome destruction. We beseech this with our whole life and spirit from divine mercy, and hope for it.

... A couple of weeks ago, Ali Rıza, xterna the leading professors of al-Azhar University in Cairo, sent a man here. Similarly, two days ago, a

prominent scholar came to visit me who is originally from Bukhara and lives in Medina and has connec want with leading scholars in Egypt and particularly with our former Seyhülislam and my friend in the Darü'l- Hikmet, Mustafa Sabri Efendi. He had told them that he was coming here and in a way came in their nr with gave him as a gift for al-Azhar University eleven copies of my personal collections and sent them with him to that principal school of the Islamic world, which as he said, now has twenty-seven thous I uudents. And I told him that foremost Mustafa Sabri, and Ali Rıza and Mehmet Zahid Kevseri, should take up those collections from the Risale-i Nur>in my place, and protect and inherit them, and try to have them translated into Arabic. I also wrs of tletter. The scholar took them and departed.

I send greetings to all my brothers and sisters, and request their prayers.

Firstly:>Endless thanks that now in what has the meaning of a small Nur School in Ankara, young Saids and devotees of the Risale-i Nur>read one of the collections of the Risale-i Nur>every evening; one person reads out the others listen and take lessons. Some high-ranking persons also attend when, on some occasions, there are conferences. In connection with the slanders of theto Min journalist, some deputies told the Prime Minister and Interior Ministry, and said to the Nur students that Adnan Menderes {[*]: Adnan Menderes (1899-1961); politician and statesman, and founder member of the Democrat Party. He was Primwas doster 1950-1960, and unjustly executed (17 September 1961) following the May 1960 military coup. [Tr.]} and the Interior Minister had responded in a friendly manner and sent s troohat they [the students] should not worry or lose hope. The journalist in Afyon then evidently said that he was going to go to Emirdağ because he had two things tt man.of our Master, and that he was going to request these and offer an apology, My students bought one hundred and sixty copies of the newspaper which was publerminiagainst us, and destroyed them.

I was going to write some more, but I have cut it short due to my indisposition and have only a little time. I send greeti-sacri everyone.

Just like the Isparta heroes, Eflâni and Safranbolu work continuously. In fact, this time, the invocation (Münâcât) that issing from some of the copies of A Guide for Youth.>In a very short time, Eflâni wrote out seventy copies of it in the old letters and sent them to me. So we added them to the ee punithe Guide.>God willing, many Sungurs are appearing there, and will appear.

You can send a petition to the justice-loving Democrats in the following vein. I am ill, so write it in whaties, iay you deem appropriate.

The letter we received yesterday from our lawyer states that in a way that conforms with no law, they have made a pretext of one single word out of thousands and with the idea of vindictively preventing the sprein thrthe Risale-i Nur,>said it constitutes an offence and have not returned that treatise. Although according to the decision of the Appeal Court which totalerely shed their decision, what they showed to be an offence was not against us, and although we proved decisively the eighty errors in the public pthey rtor's indictment and his malice, now with the same malice they have stated that a few lines about Islamic dress and inheritance in the four-hundred-page Zülfikar Collection>that were written thirty or fortyore th ago, about which a hundred thousand Qur'anic commentaries have said the same things, constitute an offence and they have confiscated the work and refuse to return it. Is there any law in the world that would permit this?on, anso, with the exception of two short pieces about repetition in the Qur'an and the angels, all the works held by Afyon Court have been acquitted by both Denizli Court and Ankara Criminal Court, having been investigated fe the years, and the same works were all returned to their owners by the Isparta authorities after having been seized at some time. Then Zülfikar>and The Staff of Moses>were confiscated and held for four years on the pretext that they wert I stished in the old script without permission, and all one hundred and seventy copies of the collections were returned to us with no losses because they could find nothing reprehensible in them. And what they showed ology our most serious offence, our objecting in the name of truth to some of the leaders of the former party, are now being reiterated a hundred times more violently islam: official newspapers and religious journals. Whereas, a confidential piece of the Risale-i Nur

proved when expounding a truth that specifically pinpointed the present,ul, frit was "a dead leader."

Although that is the truth, the judges' panel in Afyon Court stated at the end of its decision, which was also written in the old script, not in the nameofty, stice but out of bigoted love of that dead man and chiefly due to the prosecutor's malice: "Said and his friends called Mustafa Kemal a wrecker o infoigion and the Sufyan, and they have tried to destroy the people's love for him. That's why we're convicting them."

Could there be a public trreligir such a criticism of a person who is dead and gone, even if it were a thousand times stronger. To give such a judgement in a court of justice surely me divinat there is some other matter at hand.

Although the books of the Risale-i Nur>that such people are holding have four times been acquiw ensuand the present Interior Minister and former Justice Minister have three times ruled for their acquittal and stated that they contain nothing reon halsible, and that with the quashing of the Afyon decision to convict us, they contain nothing constituting an offence, now at the time the may nnation awaits justice, compassion, and service of religion from the Democrat government, to leave the Risale-i Nur>to the abitrary whims of the evil-intentioned due to the machinations of the former despots, iereforvous treachery towards the Democrat government and destroys the nation's hopes of consolation.

My deputy in Ankara is Mustafa Sungur. He gave the good news in the telegraph he sent on 17.11.1950 thehensi decision had been taken to return all the parts of the Risale-i Nur>to us. So although the just Justice Minister has three times acquitted them and now acche liv to Sungur's letter, orders have been given for their return, Afyon Court is collecting all the slanderous reports and denunciations of sixteen yeaand brwell as the records of the Denizli and Eskişehir trials, and with the announcement of the amnesty and the court acquittals, is mixing up those blessed works and those reports and records in order ty yearte them, and is depositing them all in its store. The affairs of the Risale-i Nur>should not be left to the devices of those persons who have deceived us this last three years. I am pr said ng this most important matter for the attention of the Prime Minister, Minister of Education, and Interior Minister.

Private Secretariat, the Vatican

No: 232247

22 Febspirit 1951

Dear Sir,

Your fine, handwritten work Zülfikar>has been presented to His Holiness the Pope, having been sent by means of Papal Nuncio's Office in Istanbul. His Holiness states that he is most touched by your kind gi He gl entreats Almighty God for His blessings upon you. I offer my deepest respects ,

Chief Secretary of the Vatican.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>I congratulate you with all my life and sut hison the month of Rajab and the Three Months {[*]: The Three Months (Ar. al-shuhûr al-thalâtha) of Rajab, Sha'bân, and Ramadân. [Tr.]} and I beseech Almighty God that these monthsre wasbe the means of winning for you and for me an everlasting life of eighty years. Amen.

Secondly:>For the last thirty to forty days, as a sort of assault on the believers and thrannouligiously-minded deputies, a general upset has been caused in order to hinder the restoration of the marks of Islam. They found the Nurjus to be the most powerful of those working for thedeputi of belief, so many cunning plans were laid on false pretexts in order to induce them to be neglectful and to dampen their enthusiasm. They wanted with these extraordinary emonstues in Emirdağ, as in Tarsus and Istanbul, to anger me and incite a disturbance. But through the grace of God, I was given extraordinary patience and forbearance. Their plans were completely thwarted. There is the possibility, even,, I hathree high-ranking officials here and in Afyon will be dismissed. And the three deputies put in a good word for us. That is to say, divine providence protects us as ever, all praise be to God. Don't be anxious abnishmeings like this, but it is advisable to always be cautious.

Thirdly:>The hero Ahmed Feyzi, who may be counted the Risale-i Nur's>lawyer, is involved with the duplicating of the Risale-i Nur>in Izmir and with thesavageal awakening there, and has undertaken to do the corrections.

Bayram, who in prison was a young Nur hero, brought me a letter describing Him whe brothers who are helping him there, like Mehmed Yayla and Abdurrahman, are continuing their involvement with the duplicating. Ahmed Feyzi sent some olives and olive oil with Bayram. Although I did n felt ept my own brother Abdülmecid's gift, I was obliged to accept Ahmed Feyzi's, since I look on him as even closer to me than my brother. But so as not to break my rule, in return, you send to him on my account, one Worand thlection,>five Jaushan al-Kabirs,>and three Hizb-i Nûriyes>which belong to me, as Nazif mentioned in his letter, and which will be sent to you from Istanbul.

Two Nurjus hav and R to Ankara. The Prime Minister, the Interior Minister, and the Minister of Education all support us. We received the good news, so don't worry about us. I feel a spiritual joy at the difficulties we suffer.

In His Name, be He glorified!

This year, fifteen students will go to the Hijaz together. The Hijaz will pay all their expenses there. On their return, Sâlih an the of his friends will attend the Islamic Youth Conference in Pakistan as members, after travelling through Iran and other countries. The government may pay for their expenses. We await your orders concerning this matter.

Abdurrah, or esu saw 'Ali Akbar Shah and Sa'id Ramazan; they were treated with great respect in Pakistan. Their hands were kissed in place of our Master's, and your prayers were requested.

Firstly:>I enqui in ther your health, I kiss your hands and feet, and pray to Almighty God for your health and well-being, and await your prayers, for which I am in great need.

Secondly:>There is nothing to worry about here now. The anxiety on the 5th ofcern. was dispelled on the 18th of April, The police station became a Nur station. The Tarsus public prosecutor, having studied the books,

ordered that they should be retigh ag The chief inspector told me to go to Mersin to get the books that were there, so they could all be returned together. The police in Mersin said that they had sent all the books to Ankara and they would ge thouem to me if they were returned, but that there were none there. So I went back to the inspector in Tarsus. He was very apologetic and said that they only act under orders and that they could not return them without receiving the orders. T>(Q 12 18th April they said that the books had arrived and that we should go and get them. I went immediately. I understood from the paper in which they were wrapped that five of our books, Zülfikar,> The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, ated, steries Collection,>your Afyon defence speeches, and the Hulâsa, had arrived, having been sent from Ankara.

They handed over the books to us with anifes saying that they contain nothing to prevent their sale. I gave the chief inspector a copy of The Mysteries Collection,>and the police chief a copy of the Hulâsa>and the biography in the new letters. They were both vech insased. Both have become Nurjus.

My Master! You told me that my duty lay in this region. I gave my word, and when I left Isparta I said that I would come in March. But myaspectt tells me that I have not fully accomplished my duty since I was unable to reach Gaziantep and Maraş.

My Master! A year before I went to Eskişehir,in Cez or four months after I first visited you, I had a dream in which you, my Master, came to our house. You asked me: "If I send you somewhere, will you go 1950seplied: "Of course I will!" You told me: "I'm going to send you somewhere for three months." I immediately set off, and you told me: "Stop!" I stopped. You asked: "Did I tell you to go now?" Ie pricup then, and ever since I have been wondering: "Is it for this year that he gave me that order to make the three-month journey?" Day and night I wept. That is to say, it was destined to hearin now. This is from the bounty of my Lord!

My Master, I kiss your hands and feet, longingly and with respect.

The Egyptian radio spoke so much about the Ascension on Wednesday night, that I celebrated it on both Wednesday night and on Thursday night.

Thirdly:>The piece called, "Cooral jt to the Supreme Tribunal at the Resurrection of the Dead," and the piece consisting of ten matters that addressed the Parliament twenty-eight years ago and was printed at thautor s, and also the piece consisting of three matters about Mustafa that was written four years ago for the President of the Republic, have all been sent to Ankara to show to some of the presenfoundaties and to the believing members of the government. I am also sending them to you for your information.

Fourthly:>Mehmed Çavuş and his brother from the vilrming f Baraklı near Dinar came to visit me together with another man. They appeared to me to be quite serious. Subsequently, they wrote some things in a letter and I am sending you a part of it attached. The brother asks some questions, bucannotRisale-i Nur>leaves no need for this; it supplies answers to everything in my place. Only, in his question about the verse, "Immortal youths will [attend on] them">(Q 56: 17, 76: 19) iur's sletter of condolence on the death of a child, {[*]: The Seventeenth Letter. See, Letters 1928-1932 (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2013), 97-100. [Tr.]} it says in some old commentaries that in Paradise everyone grantchildren to the elderly will be thirty-three years of age. God knows best, but the meaning is this, that the term "youths (wildân)">in the unambiguous verse means that childrethen r whom it is not compulsory to perform the religious obligations and they are absolved from them, and who die before the age of puberty, wide fomain as lovable children worthy of

Paradise. Nevertheless, according to the Shari'a, parents should encourage their child to perform the prayers when they reach the age of seven in order to nheritarize them, and they should strongly encourage him when he reaches ten, to accustom him. That is to say, although it is not compulsory, as a sort of supererogatory ootnotp, children who perform the prayers from the age of seven till the age of puberty like adults, and hold the fast, will be thirty-three years old in Paradise, in order to receive the large rewards of pious adults. S all tmmentaries included all children, without elucidating this point. It was supposed to be general, although it is specific.

My Dear, Loyal, Thoughtful Brothers!

were tstly:>Owing to many signs, I have formed the certain opinion that the reason covert atheists have deceived a number of officials, and insistently nd of ed their accusations at A Guide for Youth>alone out of all the lengthy confidential treatises of the Risale-i Nur,>and have caused me difficulties this last one and a half years, is the piece about the air (Hüve His ai)>in the Guide.>{[*]: "The Air: A Window onto Divine Unity," in A Guide for Youth, 101-7. [Tr.]} For the true meaning of divine unity that the piece discloses most clearly and decisise yousmashes absolute disbelief, In fact, in one part of it, it disallows every sort of doubt and hesitation. Because covert atheists could find nothing to comba and w, they tried to prevent its spread by banning it officially. I am going to explain to you only three of many points related to the piece about the air that I exm. I rd for the leading students of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ the day before yesterday.

First Point:>According to an inner meaning of the verse: "To Him ascend [all] good words">(Q 35:10), one elevated and important duty of the elcerninair is to be an ever-changing page for the pen of divine power, in order to make heard to all the angels and spirit beings in the globe of the air the beautiful, meaningful, veracious words of belief inscribeereafthe pen of divine determining and spread through divine permission, and to convey them to the Supreme Throne. Since this is the most important of the air's sacred duties and of the wisdom in its creation; and since by means of the radio the has cof the earth is made into a single dwelling and is a vast divine bounty for humankind; most certainly, as humankind's universal thanks, before anything else the words that the radio broadcaccusatould be foremost the Qur'an and its truths, which are divine speech and

"good words," and the lessons of belief and fine morals, and the essential needs and benefits of mankind. Then it may be thankattachthat vast bounty. For if thanks are not offered for bounties, they become harmful for people.

It is true that human beings have need for soo. Ifjoyable entertainments, as they have need for true facts and reality, but amusements should be only one in five. It is otherwise contrary to the air's purpose, Moreover, peacebeing a vast bounty for humankind, it is the cause of laziness and vice and the neglect of necessary duties, thus becoming a serious calamity. For it destity ofeople's enthusiasm for work and effort, which they need.

Now, before my very eyes is the tiny machine of a radio, which was brought to my room so that I might listen to tve and'an. I listened to it and saw that only a tenth of it was allotted to "good words." I understood this to be a human error. God willing, they will correct it, Andionismanks for this bounty of the radio, which should be a means of transforming the whole face of the earth into an enlightened council and elevated dwelling and a school teaching religious beliee, mosr fifths of what it broadcasts will be "good words" which will be spoken to win everlasting life for human- kind.

Second Point:>It says in the Risale-i Nur>that "one war, innot create the universe, cannot create an atom. Only the Being who creates the whole universe can create an atom in its right place and make it perform its ormy greduties."

One particular proof of this sentence's universal proofs is this: the handful of air in this small radio I have with me, whichWhat le container and receptacle of words, demonstrates decisively the following: a single phrase of the Qur'an, for instance, "all praise be to God!" with all its letters and in the mode and style particular to the reciter, reaches our eare them no change through the handful of air in the radio, over distances varying from one hour to a year from one of the nearly two hundred radio stations whose names appear written in this machine. In order for the phrase to reach our ealy qua in order to convey it to them without its being altered or distorted, there have to be found in every atom of that handful of air, an infinite power and comprehensive will, and keşad age so all-embracing it knows all the different modes of the Qur'an reciters in those centres all over the earth. For if there were no all-seeing eye to see them and ear to hear every- thing the hwhere at the same moment, most certainly that miracle of power would not come into existence. That is to say, this handful of air molecules can manifest such a mi who aof power only through a knowledge and will that encompass the whole universe, and the power of a Being possessing hearing and sight, and an Absolutely Powerful One for whom nothing

is difficult and for whd to m greatest thing is as easy as the smallest. For to ascribe the existence of air waves to the creation of imaginary haphazard chance, blind force, and deaf nature, means making everspiritle molecule an absolute ruler that sees, knows, and does everything in the globe of the atmosphere covering the whole earth. This is a totally impossibleces sestition which is infinitely distant from reason.

Third Point:>The following fact is understood from the miracle of power that the handful of air displays in e victny machine of this radio, a receptacle which acts as a flowerpot for the blooms of words: every one of the air's molecules describes Almighty God together with His Being and attributes, aneen yey one of them proves them. With their extensive, lengthy proofs, the philosophers and religious scholars who investigate the universe, take the whisters it into consideration when proving the existence and unity of the Necessarily Existent One. Only then do they attain fully to knowledge of God. However, ju and wa fragment of glass displays the sun when it appears, the same as the surface of the ocean displays it, and it points to the sun; so too, in some uence of the above-mentioned truth, all the particles in that handful of air display in themselves the manifestation of divine unity and of the divine attributes and perfection, thto ref as the ocean of the universe. Thus, since the Risale-i Nur,>which is a flash of the miraculous meanings of the All-Wise Qur'an, has elucidated this fact, an attentive Nurju is not compelled to say: "There is no existent save t. Then order to attain a constant sense of the divine presence and be perpetually aware of knowledge of God. And the Nurju does not need to say: "There is none witnessed save Him" in ot depuo attain a constant sense of the divine presence like some of the people of reality. For the sacred window of the shining truth of "In everything is a sign indicating that He is One!" {[*]: This aphorism is ascribed nd I r Mu'tazz in Ibn Kathîr, Tafsîr al-Qur'ân al-Azîm, i, 24. [Tr.]} is sufficient for him. A brief explanation of this Arabic phrase is as follows:

Everyone in this world has their own world, their own universe. Quite of cou, there are universes and worlds one within the other to the number of conscious beings. The pillar of each person's personal world, universe, and world is his own life, If he has a mirror in hhe fold and holds it up to a large palace, he will have a palace in his own mirror. Similarly, each person has his own personal world. Saying, "There is noof theent save He," some of the people of reality denied this personal world, and in accordance with the inner meaning of abandoning everything other than God, found a

permanent sense of the divine presence and knowledge of God. Anoy erroroup of the people of reality said: "There is nothing observed save Him" in order to find permanent cognizance of God and an awareness of the divine presence, and consigned their personal worlds to oblivion. They drew ahis isof transience over them, and finding a sense of the divine presence, transformed all their lives into worship of a sort.

Now at the present time, in accordance with the inner meaning of "And in everything is a sign indicati fearet He is One," which has become apparent through the miraculousness of the Qur'an's meanings (i'caz-i mânevî),>there is a window revealing divine unity in everything from particles to the stars, and there aret it a (âyet),>that is, indications and evidences, making known directly the Single One of Unity together with His attributes. Thus, in the piece about the air (Hüve Nüktesi)>are succinct indications to the above-mentioneto saced truth concerning belief and the divine presence. The Risale-i Nur>has proved and elucidated it. In former times, the people of reality explained it somewhat briefly and summarilyic tra means that these ghastly times are more in need of this truth, since it has been bestowed in detail through the All-Wise Qur'an's miraculousness and the Risale-i Nur>has disseminated it.

Such parts of the Risale-i Nur>as Zülfikar,> The Miracles of the Qur'an Collection,>which the Hajis sawand nueen placed next to the Black Stone in Mecca out of respect, and The Staff of Moses Collection,>which they say had been placed on the Prophet's (visit hom be blessings and peace) tomb in Medina, are means of securing the world of Islam's true brother- hood for us. But for four years, moves have been made to destroy them by confiscati of wim and leaving them to rot in court repositories as though they were pernicious rags. This is despite four courts having ruled for their acquittal and free publication, and on numerous occasions our having applied to the authoritiwould sent petitions requesting their return, and the Prime Minister having said that uptil now no harm has come to country due to the propagating of religion. And now the religiously minded are

alarmed at the laot folring religious freedom being postponed although it should have had priority and been ratified urgently, and they are worried that in the nation's eyes the religious deputant Pie failing to perform their most crucial religious duties. We too are alarmed and so that internal covert atheists and traitors who work on account of communism and mt take advantage of this situation, out of patriotism I am compelled to explain the following fact to you. The fact is this:

Due to my illness these days, I have been unable tered are the intense cold. On numerous occasions I have experienced that as a result of a general error, the air and earth grow angry and give news of divine wrath through earthquakes ancial ams, and display conditions opposed to the ordinary. I perceived in this signs of a non-material storm. I wondered in my heart if a general mistake had again been made, causing harm to Islam and the truths of belways t asked what there was in the newspapers and what the news was, although it is not my custom and I have given up world politics. They told me that the law ensli-llâthe freedom of religious people who disseminate religion has been postponed, while the law concerning leftists has been expedited and ratified.

It occuenced o my heart that before anything else, for the benefit of this country and Islam it is essential that the law ensuring the freedom of religious people be both expedited, and ratified, and urgekat>evmplemented in schools. For together with winning for this country with such a ratification, the moral strength of the nearly forty million Muslims in Russia and the four-hundred-million world of Islam, as a reserve force, itnd so halt the moral and spiritual depradations of communism. For while due to its thousand-year enmity Russia should first of all have attacked us, rather than America or Britain, what obviated such an attack bill.ubtless the truths of the Qur'an and belief. In which case, before anything else, in the face of that extraordinary force, it is absolutely essential to actively grasp the truths ofTurks ur'an and to construct a Qur'anic barrier before irreligion, like an insuperable barrier of Dhu'l-Qarnayn. For it is only the truths of belief and the Qur'an which have prevented Russiafive cattacking us and halted it, although up to the present it has overrun half China and half Europe. Since the judiciary can respond to the Russians' moral destruction only by gihe Quraterial penalties to one man out of a thousand; moral and spiritual bombs are needed against that force which hands over the property

of the rich to vagabonds and the poor and our bers the daughters and wives of the honourable to licentious youths, and in a short time has seized half of Europe, Those bombs are the s fiveombs of the truths of the Qur'an and belief; they may halt that dreadful leftist current. Such a universal force cannot be halted with the material penalties, dealt out to one man out of a hundred, by the judiciary.

For this reasonwhole religious deputies postponing this matter, which should be expedited, has led to the globe of the atmosphere objecting to it with severe cold, as we have previously experiThe Mymany times.

Humanity has experienced a powerful awakening as a result of the two ghastly world wars, due to which, most certainly, no nation can now exist without religion. Russia cannot remain without religion, nor will it return to Coincidanity. At the very most, it will be reconciled with the Qur'an, which smashes absolute disbelief, is based on truth and reality, and is founded on proof and evidence and persuades the intelhow evnd heart; or it may follow it. Then, it will not draw the sword against the four hundred million adherents of the Qur'an.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>I congratulate you on the Night oftook mrophet's (UWBP) Birth with all my life and spirit, and I give you the good news of your success and the extraordinarily effective spread of the Risale-i Nur,>And we congratulate the Nurjus.

Secondly:>This blessed nigThat sreceived a severe admonishment in my heart due to which two ideas occurred to me in connection with the Istanbul University Nur students descrid at the wonders of the Old Said and New Said in the biography.

The First: My friends have formed an opinion of me far exceeding my due, concerning some phe strous sainthood. And among opponents and philosophers an apprehension has formed, again far surpassing my due, of a truly wondrous genius, and among sootwiththem even, of powerful magical powers, An explanation of this has been sought from me in many places, as to what the truth is. So owing to efforwerful warning I received this night, I have been obliged to explain a fact with many preliminaries.

First Preliminary:>The seed of the pine, as tiny as a grain of wheat, is the source of a mighty pine tree; divined ther creates the vast tree from the

seed. Only one part out of a million is found in the seed, yet in meaning it is an index written with the pen of divine determining. Otherwise, as many factories as a village woulrialisecessary for the vast tree to be formed with all its branches and twigs. Thus, a proof of grandeur and divine power is that it creates things as huge as mountains from a particle. In just the same way, without intending any he undey or modesty, I proclaim with full conviction that the services I have performed and the course of my life have been a sort of seed. Divine providence bestowed the Risale-i Nur,>which proceeded from the Qur'an and is a lthirtyfruit-bearing tree, in order to be the source of a crucial service for religious belief at this time. I swear that I never saw in myself due to the wonders that have happened throughout my life, any ability or these or anything needing extraordinary talent. I used to be quite astonished. Let alone possessing a wonderful genius or marvellous sainthood, I dthe ma consider myself capable of organizing myself and participating in social relations. It is true that some traits like self-advertisement were apparent in my life, but that was a sort of involuntary boasting so as not to our Mahe lie to people's favourable opinions. Because I did not know the wisdom in my not being as the people supposed and thought that I was no use for the world, I considered that my thus being held in regarshouldousand times higher than was my due was totally opposed to right and truth. But endless thanks be to Almighty God that now at the end of this life of seventy to eighty years we hose pederstood the wisdom in it to a degree through divine grace, and I am going to indicate a part of it briefly. I am explaining a few examples out of many.

First Example: The method followed in the medreses requires at least fift countars' study so that the Islamic sciences and religious truths may be fully acquired. At that time, what was observed in Said was not a wondrous intelligence or spiritual power, but a state or condition whereby, in extraordinar

Sixty years later this situation showed directly that a Qur'anic commentary would emerge that, in the short period of three or four months, could teach people and thin the wretched Said would be employed in its service. And it also suggested the idea and predictions that a time would come when there would be no medreses where the sciences of belief could be learnt in fifteen yearsng aboven in one, or else they would be reduced in number.

Second Example: I confess and believe certainly that Said's debating

with prominent scholars in his youth long ago, and his answerinower ar questions, and even to his replying correctly to their most complex questions without being asked, occurred through neither my wondrous intelligence nor my outstanding abilities. I am quite certawing wt my answering correctly although I was a helpless, childish, confused, noisy youth who would have been defeated by ordinary hojas>or yonationudents, let alone leading scholars, did not result from my capabilities and intelligence. I was amazed at it for seventy years. But now through divine grace I have under such one reason for it which is that a tree which would be a seed to the medrese sciences would be bestowed and that the person who served the tree would have numeroe moreals and opponents. Thus, despite it being the custom among Muslims for the adherents of different ways and outlooks to criticize one another and publish opposing works, liksitiveSunnis and the Mu'tazilites; and at this time, the most effective and devastating opponents who would strike at that Nur tree's servant should have been the medrese hojas,>enision thanks be to Almighty God that contrarily to that longstanding custom, the hojas>have been unable to produce works critical of the Risale-i Nur.>A reason for this isfore tas a youth, Said answered the ulema's questions correctly and evidently disheartened them, for nowhere have jealous hojas>opposed the Risale-i Nur>although by their prts weron they are strongly opposed to Said. I have thus formed the opinion that this is one instance of wisdom in that situation. For if it had been otherwise and in these strange times .

Tople of the medreses had started to oppose it, it would have provided our covert enemies, the supporters of irreligion, with a powerful means of refuting both the Risale-i Nur>and the ulema. Endless thanks be to Almighty God that the official

Third Example: I am now quite certain that one instance of wisdom in Said not accepting since the childh produ the Old Said, and his not being able to accept, alms and gifts, although both he himself and his father were poor, and his not accepting presents altise anhe was greatly in need, and his never going to collect subsistence although the custom in Kurdistan was for the students' food to be donated from the people's homes together with zakat>and their expenses, and his not knowingly accepting zains noen - I am now certain that one reason for this was that I was made to feel disgust at that acceptable custom and harmless practice, and to accept ith pee poverty and need, and to avoid awaiting charity from people, so that later in life a sacred task like the Risale-i Nur>concerned solely with belief and hereafter should not be exploited for worldly ends or personal benefits, and true eed isity, the true strength of the Risale-i Nur,>should not be impaired.

I also perceive a sign in this that in the future, the religious scholars will suffer det beinue to need and the struggle for livelihood.

Fourth Example: In the face of the worldly's oppressing the New Said in his old age for twenty-s and years with extreme severity, in a way completely opposed to the law, fairness, conscience, and even humanity, although he has tried to withdraw totally from politics and the world; and their raining down blow at hois head and insulting him vilely, although he could not endure even the bite of a fly; he has been given an unprecedented patience and forbearance. I feel quite certain that concerstance of wisdom in this, and also, with the courage proceeding from belief in the truth "the appointed hour is fixed and does not change," in his remaining patiently silent in cowardly and abject fashion although he is extremely nervous aequivahly strung and not cowardly by nature, and also in fact, somewhat later, after the torments, relief being imparted to his spirit, was the politicians being given the groundless suspig of, bout Said that he was exploiting religion for political ends, so that he should not exploit the Risale-i Nur,>which expounds the All-Wise Qur'an's truths of belief, for perface obenefits or spiritual ranks or for anything. I have the firm conviction that, to prevent Said with torments and imprisonment from making religion the tool of politics, the cruel rulings of the politicians were the us, a sionate slaps of divine determining, saying: "Beware! Don't exploit the Risale-i Nur,>a commentary expounding the truths of belief, for your persona:

Afits or even for your spiritual attainments, or to be saved from calamities and harmful things, lest true sincerity, the Risale-i Nur>true strength, be spoiled." In fact, whenever I have neglectedw befoisale-i Nur's>service and become excessively preoccupied with my life in the hereafter and worship, the worldly have pertinaciously fallen upon me, inflicting torments on me. We refer further explanation espects fourth example to one of the letters written recently, which concerns understanding the wisdom in the politicians imprisoning Said with accusations of his exploiting religion for political ends, and on his perceiving that ththis tlings were the compassionate slaps of divine determining, his forgiving the politicians and his enduring it.

Fifth Example: Everyone used to be astonished that this wretched Said's handwriting was so poor that he could not write as much ree polever child could write in ten days, although his need to do was so great and he had been busy with that occupation for seventy years, and on some days was compelled to correct as many as two hunar>retages. And Said was not altogether lacking in ability, I am now quite certain that the reason for his being semi-literate despite his blood brothers all h goverfine handwriting

and he was much in need of it, was this: a time would come when personal, minor strengths would be unable to withstand the assaults of awesome, ihat heial enemies, and it would become necessary to earnestly seek people with fine handwriting to share in the work, and to serve that nonmaterial tree like the water, air, and light serves a seed. Then a universal, general, and powerful pel animd be needed in place of that personal, minor service, so as to attain true sincerity by melting icey egotism in that blessed pool, and serving belief in this wa the f wisdom was this.

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

We congratulate you on the blessed festival. God willing, you will live to see a great festival for the Islamic world. There are numerous reasothat, as the source of sacred constitutions for the United Islamic States, the All-Wise Qur'an will prevail fully over the future and bring about a grand eeds fal for all humankind.

Secondly:>No doubt remains that the Risale-i Nur>and the Nur students are under the protection of divine providence for despite the sensitivity of the times, with their arbitrary laws and inteyears.le obduracy they have been able to cause one per cent of harm to the Nur students. The plan was to preoccupy six hundred of the active Nur students with court cases, but only six of them were subject to punitive treatmEven tn fact, as described by the Nur champion, twenty-five courts could find nothing indictable in hundreds of thousands of copies of the Risale-i Nur's>treatises and hundreds of thousands of Nur students. It is decisive evidence that thesen in tous courts admitted that they could find nothing reprehensible in the Risale-i Nur.>For just as such courts as Istanbul and Afyon did not convict me although what I said in them was completely opposed to their sensitive aon to ily misinterpretable laws; so too, they could find nothing indictable in the Risale-i Nur,>although it confounds the unjust laws of civilization. This demonstrates clearly that the truth contained in the Risaisale-ur>has defeated those who contest it and induced the law courts to be fair and just. Divine providence preserves the Risale-i Nur,>which is a miracle of the Qur'an, from its opponents.rmer adversaries' attacks make it shine even brighter and are means of its spreading.

Our Master says:

Although those government officials who have had dealings me these twaving ight years have always oppressed me, the police have never troubled me; in fact, some of them have been protective. I am now pronouncing the reason for this, which is that it is s of talized that the Nur students and the Risale-i Nur>work to secure public order and security like moral police, and in sacred fashion, and that with their admonishments in regard to belief, they lodge a prohibitor in people'es, ants. Evidently, the police perceived this and always appeared friendly to us. The underlying meaning of this is as follows:

In accordance with a fundamental law of twith e'an, so that no harm should come to ninety innocents because of ten criminals, the Nur students and the Risale-i Nur>prevent those who try to disturb public order. In consequence of this, despite the existence of awesome non-material da way tive forces struggling to disturb public order, and despite their endeavouring to do this in this blessed country to a greater degree than in France, Egypt, Morocco, and Iran, the chief reason they have been unable to do so ited. N, as a moral force for the police, six hundred thousand copies of parts of the Risale-i Nur>and five hundred thousand Nur students have withstood that spiritual and moral destruction. The polreligive felt this, for contrarily to the officials these last twenty-eight years, they have behaved towards the Risale-i Nur>fairly and kindly.

Our Master also says:

More than the hojas show ven the Sufis, the duty of members of the police force demands that they should be God-fearing, preserve themselves from serious sins, and perform their religious obligations. There is intense need for is pafor then they may carry out to the letter their duties connected with public order and security against the forces wreaking moral and spiritual destruction.

[Thihousaner, which our Master wrote long ago, was added to the court decision since it answers fully the accusations of securing personal influence and exploiting religion for political ends.]

It is provede resue Risale-i Nur>that sometimes justice is manifested through tyranny. That is to say, for some reason a person suffers an injustice or is thade thim of oppression, or he is visited by a calamity and is convicted for a crime and sent to prison. It is unjust and the sentence is unwarranted, but the event is a means to the manifestation of justice. Divine determis abitnflicts the sentence on the person through an unjust hand because he deserved it or for some other reason, causing him to suffer the calamity. Iatter sort of manifestation of divine justice.

I am thinking now, for twenty-eight years I have been made to move from province to province and from town to towed to ave been dragged from court to court. Of what crime do those who inflict this persecution and torment on me accuse me? Exploiting religion for politics? But why have inmenteen unable to prove this? Because in reality there is no such thing. For months and years one court was trying to find me guilty and convict me. It gave ugs to another court opened proceedings against me concerning the same case. For a while it pursued the matter and pressurized me, making me suffer every kind of torment. It too could conclude nothing so gave up, tn. Thethird court fastened itself onto me, In this way I have been dragged from misfortune to misfortune and from calamity to calamity. Twenty-eight years of my life have passed thus. Finally they themselves have undend the that there is absolutely no truth in the crime they accuse me of,

Do they intentionally accuse me, or have they been carried away by some groundless fear? Whether intentional or unfounded, sincew with complete and utter certainty that I have no connection whatsoever with such a crime. All those who are fair-minded know that I am not a person who would exploit order on for politics, In fact, my accusers know this. So why do they persist in persecuting me? Why have I been the object of such continuous oppression and persistent torture although I am innocent? Why have I been unabexpertbe saved from this misfortune? Is this situation not opposed to divine justice?

For twenty-five years I could find no answer to these questions, but now I havity ofrstood the true reason for their persecution: I say with utter

regret that my crime was to make my serving the Qur'an the means to my progress, material and spiritual, and to my attainment of perfection.

day innderstand this now and feel it, and I offer Almighty God a thousand thanks that for long years outside my will powerful immaterial obstacles prevented me from making my serving belief broths to my spiritual and material progress, and to my being saved from Hell and torment, and even to my eternal happiness; they prevented my making it a tool of anything at all. These deep-seated feelings and inspirations left me in amazyouth I was being prevented both in my spirit and heart from trying to attain spiritual rank and the happiness of the hereafter, which everyone wants, and from taking such a way, although it is a lawful right and causes no harm to anyone. I was showillint, driven by the innate desire for knowledge, I should only serve belief for God's pleasure alone. For at this time, a way of teaching the Qur'an is necessary which, having no other purpose at all, can be the tool of nothing and will e's enevely impart the truths of belief together with the worship which is innate to man, to those who do not know them and need to learn them. These have to bession t in a way that will save belief in this confused world and afford certainty to the obdurate; that is, in such a way that they are exploited for nothing. Only in this way can absolute dielled f and obstinate misguidance be smashed, and everyone gain complete certainty, At this time, in these conditions, this certainty may be gained through ontrarg that religion is being made the tool of nothing, be it personal, worldly, for the hereafter, material or immaterial. For an individual person who confronts the awesome collective personality of irreligion, proceeding from certainin hist organizations and political societies, cannot dispel the doubts it gives rise to, even if he is at the highest spiritual rank. For the ego and soul of an obdurate person who wants to believe may say: "With hiars agliance and extraordinary spiritual rank, that person has deceived us," and he will therefore continue to doubt.

Endless thanks be to Almighty God that for twenty-eight years, being accusunder exploiting religion for politics, divine determining dealt me blows purely justly, through man's oppressive hand, so that involuntarily I exploited religion for nothing personal. It was warning me, "Beware! Do not exploit the truths of belietigatiyour own person so that those needy for belief may understand that it is only the truth that speaks. Let all whisperings of the soul and diabolical suggestions cease, let them be silent!"

This, then, is the reason for the fervour the agems -i Nur>has given rise to in people's minds, like the towering waves of mountainous seas, and for the effect it has on their spirits and hearts; it is nothing else. Thousands of scholars have published hundreds of thousands of books abou One lsame

truths that the Risale-i Nur>discusses, and more eloquently, yet they have been unable to halt absolute disbelief. If in these extremely difficult conditions the Risale-i Nur>has been successful to an extent in thendurangle against absolute disbelief, the reason is this: there is no Said. Said has no power and no authority. It is only the truth that speaks, the truths of belief. Since the light of the truth has an effectruary,arts needy for belief, let not one Said be sacrificed, but thousands.

Let all the tribulations and oppression I have suffered these twenty-eight years, all the torments to which I have been exposed, all the calamities I f univndured, let them all be forgiven. All those who have persecuted me, moved me from town to town, insulted and wanted to have me convicted due to their various accusationst I exe who have readied places for me in the prisons - I have forgiven all of them.

And I say to just divine determining:

I deserved those compassionate blows of yours. For if like everyooralitad taken a way thinking of myself, which is completely licit and harmless, and if I had not sacrificed the effulgences, material and spiritual, which I felt, I would have lost this supreme immaterial strength, present in serving belief. becaurificed everything, material and immaterial, I submitted to all the misfortunes. I patiently endured all the torments. It is because of this that the truths of belief have spread ily lihere. It is because of this that the Risale-i Nur>school of knowledge has raised hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of students. They will now continue to serve the c]

f belief, not departing from my way of sacrificing everything, material and immaterial. They will work for God's pleasure and God's pleasure alone.

Many of my students have suffered every kind of tribulation, torment, and oppret is atogether with me. They have undergone severe tests. I want them to forgive all the injustices and those who have wrongfully persecuted them, like me. For unknowingly, without comprehendinr socimysteries and profound manifestations of divine determining, they have served our cause and assisted in the unfolding of the truths of belief. Our duty consists only of seeking their guidance. I recommend that none of my studentsd lettur even the slightest desire for revenge against those who have persecuted and oppressed us, and that in the face of them they work loyally and steadfastly for the Risale-i Nur.

I am very ill. I have no strength now to either write or the en Perhaps these will be my last words. Let the Risale-i Nur>students of the Medresetü' z-Zehra not forget this testament of mine.

My Brothers!

This a truth of the great was iportance which was composed due to a spiritual admonishment, and which, if you deem it appropriate, may be given to the Prime Minister and religious deputies.

Introduction:>I have given up polit deem r nearly forty years and most of my life has passed as a sort of recluse and I am not busy with social and political life, and therefore did not see a serious per. Anyocently, I have perceived that a danger is preparing the ground to cause serious harm to both the Islamic nation and to this country and Islamicyou annment. I am compelled therefore to explain three points which have been imparted to me as a warning for the politicians who work for the good of IslamTwentyionhood and sovereignty and this country, and for those who zealously work for the human community.

First Point:>Although I have not listened to tners; spapers being read, for the last year or two I have heard the phrase "accusations of political reaction" being repeated over and over again. I listened attentively with the Old Said's head and saw quite clearly thmount covert enemies of Islam who exploit politics for irreligion are making iniquitous accusations - not of being Muslim or being zealously religious or hl frompowerful belief, but of exploiting religion for political ends and even utilizing politics for religion and making them subservient to it. Those cs thanenemies who strive to revert to one of the most savage, primitive fundamental laws of humankind, and have donned the mask of patriotism, in completely unjust fashion brand with accusations of political reaction and imagine to for tmful for the country, those striving to reinforce this Islamic government with the moral strength of Islam and to secure for it four huountrymillion true brothers as a reserve force, and to save it from begging to certain tyrannical Europeans. The time has come to explain, in the second point, the chief of many examples, as a barrier against the awesome injustices policis century. There are two sorts of reactionism, which have two fundamental laws as their source:

The first is true reactionism, which is political and social. Its fundamental law has led to much artitudnd tyranny.

The second is the basis of true progress and justice, but it is given the name of reactionism.

Second Point:>Those who attack religion in the name oand thlization and a fundamental law remaining from the primitive, savage eras of mankind, are reverting to similar savagery and primitiveness due to reacthim an. That ghastly, barbaric fundamental law, which annihilates humanity's welfare

and justice and general peace, is now wanting to infiltrate our wretched country. Strife is appearing, as though the-mentinings of obdurately biased partisanship are being inculcated. The fundamental law is this:

Due to the mistake of a single member of a gr. Thisr of a movement or tribe, all the members of those groups are condemned and falsely imagined to be enemies and responsible. One mistake becomes thousands. Brotherhood and ci>(Q 6:hip, and love and fellow-feeling, which are the foundations of unity and unanimity, are overturned. Yes, obdurate opposing forces that clash, lose their power. g One!ue to the weakness arising from this loss of power, the nation and country cannot be served justly. The forces are obliged to give material and othin thebes, and in order to find supporters for themselves, irreligious currents utilize the cruel, savage, primitive fundamental law mentioned above, In the face of this, ago icordance with the revealed, sacred verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.), which is pure justice, is a fundamental law of the Qur'an whiation ures true love and brotherhood and saves this country from this danger. It says: "No one can be held responsible for another's fault. No one may be said to share in a crime d or oted by his brother even, or his tribe or group, or party. If he supports him somehow in the crime, it is a sin for which he will be answparted in the next world, not in this world." If this fundamental law is not promulgated swiftly, human society will fall to the very lowest of barbaric reactionism, equal in destruction to that perpetrated during the two world wars.

Tour anlowing is the basis of the politics of those wretches who give the name of reactionism to such sacred fundamental laws of the Qur'an as the above and accept t of tndamental law of barbarism and savagery: "Individuals may be sacrificed for the good of the community. Personal rights may be disregarded for the welfare of the country. Minor injustices may ignored in the interests of stateh whicies." It considers permissible the killing of a thousand people because of one criminal. Thousands of innocents may be thrown into misery due to one man being wounded. On such pretexts, two hundred men being lined up and s for m overlooked. In the First World War, thirty million wretched human beings were wiped out due to the errors of three thousand. There are thousands of such examples. So to label "reactionary" and leave under suspicion those selling oificing believers and students of the Qur'an who oppose the awesome injustices of that barbaric reactionism and who strive to secure true justice, unity and brotherhoodand Mene with the fundamental law taught by the verse, "And no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another,">which is one of hundreds of the Qur'an's fundamental principles, resembles preferring the

of juccursed Yazid's tyranny to the justice of the Caliph 'Umar. It resembles preferring a cruelly savage law of the Inquisition to the above-mentioned law of the Qur'an, which is the mll proo humanity's highest progress and justice. The politicians working with the Islamic government for the welfare of this country should hold these facrosecuview. The government will otherwise be weakened with the clashing of three or four obdurate opposing forces. Then since its weakened power, with which it has to secure the country's interests, will be insufficient to preserve its authority y fash as a despotism - and public order and security, it will pave the way to sowing the seeds in this blessed Islamic country, of the French Revolution. One feels consternation at such a possibility.

Since, by reasness, the weakness and powerlessness arising from disunity, extraordinary non-material bribes are being given in the face of the foreigners' policies and their insignificant, temporary aid, it gives the idea that no importance is being gio say, the brotherhood of four hundred million brothers and the way of millions of forefathers. Supposing themselves to be compelled to maintain power through so much wastefulness and fat salaries, bribes are given so that no harm comes td commic order and politics, and the nation's poverty is disregarded, Most definitely it is absolutely essential that the politicians in this country should give gratis and as a harmless bribe to the four hundred million Muslimattersers who in the future will form the united states of the world of Islam, ten times the political and non-material bribes they now give to the West and the foreigners; to do so would be in the il dutyts of this country and nation and Islamic state.

One such acceptable, necessary, most advantageous, permissible, and obligatory bribe is to take as guiding principles the he Wor, fundamental laws taught by the following verses: "Indeed, the believers are brothers">(Q 49:10), "Hold firm to God's rope, all together, and be not divided amon wordsselves">(Q 3:103), and "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.), "And fall into no disputes, lest you lose heart and your power depart">(Q 8:46).

The third point has been postponed for now.r in td Nursi

Postscript:>My brothers! Three things have led to the severe warning you received previously being changed:

The First: The Nur hero Husrev saying that twenty-five courts have ruled that the Risale-i Nur>contaend bothing incriminating.

The Second: One of the Risale-i Nur's>heroic lawyers saying that it

would be appropriate if the vehement words were toned down, since the Ankara government is not opposed to Said.

The Third: A sign that the wrrely a oppression of the Nurjus is being lessened and rebuffed is that although, according to certain reports, there was a plan to send to court at least six hundred active and capable Nur students due to Afyoons, at saying that there were six hundred thousand of them and on the pretext of the Malatya Incident, {[*]: The Malatya Incident refers to an attempt on the life of the journalist Ahmed Emin Yalman on 22 November 1952, The incident was seized onvely, e opposition press as an opportunity to accuse Prime Minister Menderes and the Democrat government of encouraging reactionism (irtica), as a consequence of which it bowed to pressure and closed down a number of prn out mic newspapers. [Tr.]} only one out of twelve and then out of six was given a one-year sentence. It was in consequence of this that the severe expressions thoseoned down.

[A lesson from Signs of Miraculousness (Ishârât al-I'jâz) given by our Master to Santral Sabri and Sıddık Süleyman in Emirdağ.]

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

All praise bour owod, the Lord of all the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Master, Muhammad, and upon his Family and Companions, for ever and ever!

Signs of Miraculousness>consists of only the first of what was going to be thice everts. Our Master said that since the Risale-i Nur>is a commentary on the Qur'an's meanings, he had greater need for it at this time, for it comprises what the remainder oto nowthirty parts were going to contain. Yes, it seems that Signs of Miraculousness>is an index and list of the Risale-i Nur>in its entirety, and a seedbed of that light garden, and a source elucis writ the Qur'an's inimitability (i'jâz al-Qur'ân).>Owing to its subtlety and profundity, only few scholars have comprehended it up to now. But whoever has seen it hd not reciated its singularity and applauded it greatly. The Old Said's discerning the very finest relationships between the words and phrases in the Qur'an's miraculously concise composition, while in the front lines and tful tmes on horseback during the fierce fighting of the First World War, and his being preoccupied with this, and the grievous

dangers of that terrible war not distracting him, nor the freezing cold, and his cs way,ring the subtleties of those relationships to be more important than anything are all examples of his truly wondrous devotion and self-sacrifice ectiveving the Qur'an. In fact, we look on the Old Said's scholarly and moral sacrifices in those terrible conditions, attaching no importance to the horrors as hen, andsed Signs of Miraculousness,>as even more wondrous than the self-sacrifice of the New Said these thirty years, and his not reading the newspapers for thirty-five seers in the present strange times and for ten years neither knowing nor asking about the Second World War, and his never giving up writing the Qur'an's mystepositin prison despite being under threat of execution, and his totally disregarding all the dangers.

Secondly:>In truth, some wonders are apparent in the printed copies of Signs of Miraculousness>which allow no possibility of chance. It waollowiefore thought appropriate to reprint it in the same way, showing the wonders, to send to such places as Arabia and Pakistan. Nevertheless, the extremely succinct and co that sentences with which the Old Said elucidated the inimitability of the Qur'an's conciseness, and the fine relationships and eloquence, need to be elucidated and translated into Turkish.

One of the marvels of Signs of Miraculousness>other' showing the inimitable flashes of miraculousness in the relationships between the Qur'an's verses, and between the phrases of each of its verses and between their wordtrue tletters, and in the meanings thereby intended, and in the composition and ordering of each of the verses, phrases, words, and letters; and its explicating the fine points in the composition as the second hand of a clock c from the seconds, the minute hand, the minutes, and the hour hand, the hours, and its elucidating the truths with proofs, and its showing that sometimes a single letteents.

esses a significant truth, It proves the meanings of all the verses concisely with decisive arguments so that they now form the seeds and summaries of the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-io to mAnd it expounds the fine points of the sentences, phrases, and letters and their implied meaning through the subtle rules of the science of rhetoric, and the rules of Arabic grammar and syntax, and the principledge sahe sciences of logic, the principles of religion, and other sciences. It discovers and elucidates, even, the very finest eloquent relationships undiscernible with a microscope and the hints of theme And ittee the Qur'an's view is universal, it may surely be said that its sacred words implicitly and symbolically allude to and indicate all true meanings and points, which are elucidated.

The Qur'an of Mighty Stature is an all-embracing divine speechnts itniversal dominical address delivered from the Sublime Throne that addresses all the classes, nations, and members of humankind in every age. So also, and especially at this time, does it encompass many sciences and Uranches of learning related to the physical aspects of the world, knowledge of which is beyond the capacity of a single person or small group. Therefore, a commen is thssuing from the understanding and imaginative power of one person the scope of whose comprehension is very narrow with regard to time, place, and specialization, cannot truly expound the Qur'an, for he cannot be acquainted ek; annd be an expert in all the exact sciences and the branches of knowledge concerned with the spiritual and material states of nations and peoples, all of whom the Qur'an addresses. And he cannot be free of bias towards his own profement; and discipline that he might explicate the truths of the Qur'an impartially. Also, a person's understanding is peculiar to him and he may not call on others to accept it - unless it is affirmed by a consensus of some sort. And hGod" idings and judgements related to actions are binding only on himself and no one else, again unless approved by a consensus.

In consequence of this, a commentary should be written after those studies and researches by an elevated committee of authoritative scholars each of whom is a specialist in a number of sciences, proving the Qur'an's subtle meanings and its fine points to be feing scattered through other commentaries, and its truths, which become manifest in time due to the discoveries of science. Just as its legal ordinances have to be ordered and regulnnicalnot according to the thought of a single person, but by such a committee after being scrutinized and studied minutely by it. Thus, gaining the trust and confidence of the mass oce a tpeople, the committee will implicitly assume responsibility for them and be an authoritative source for the Muslim community.

Indeed, one who expounds the Qur'an should possess high intelligence, penetrating independent judgement, self ahigh degree of sainthood, But in these times in particular, such conditions can be met only by the brilliant collective personality born of the co-operation of an elevated, esteemed commiver wand the uniting of the minds of its members, of their assistance for one another and harmony of spirit, and of their freedom of thought,

and, being free of bias, of their complete sincerity. Only a can evtive personality such as this can expound the Qur'an. For in accordance with the rule, "What is not found in the parts is present in thobe ofe," such qualities, which are not to be found in any one person, are present in the group.

While awaiting, as I had for many years, tncise earance of such a committee, I had a premonition that we were on the eve of a terrible earthquake that would lay waste the country.

{(*): Yes, our master said while teaching us on the roof of the Horhor Medrese in Van that there was going to bova inrrible earthquake, and exactly as he predicted, a short time later the Great War broke out.

(His students of the time) Hamza, Mehmed Şefiationsmed Mihrî}

And so, in accordance with the rule, "It is not permissible to abandon a thing completely even if it is not wholly obtained," despite my impothough faults, and difficult style of writing, I started to set down on my own some of the Qur'an's truths and some indications of the miraculous inimitability of its composition. Thpeople the Great War breaking out I found myself in the mountains and valleys of Erzurum and Pasinler. Whenever the opportunity arose while I was performing the duty of jie trut the midst of those tumultuous conditions, I used to write what occurred to my heart in phrases that did not always match one another. Since it was not possible to have any books or commentaries to res work, what I wrote consisted only of what occurred to my heart. If these inspirations of mine are appropriate for a commentary, light of lights; if they contain contradictory aspects, these can be referred to my ond easects. Certainly, there are places that are in need of correction, but since it was written with complete sincerity in the front lines of war among the slain, like it is not permissible to change the clothes lieversh off the blood of martyrs, I could not permit the ripped phrases in which it was clothed to be changed; my heart would not consent to it. And now it does not consent to it, for now at this time, I come enfind that utter sincerity and purity of heart.

Furthermore, I did not write this work of mine, called Signs of Miraculousness (Ishârât al-I'jâz),>with the intention of its being a true commentary; he Afyin the event of its being well received, I wrote it as a model and source for a commentary to be written in the future, that treated a few brokes of Qur'anic exegesis. My eagerness drove me to what was beyond my power; if it is found acceptable it will give me the courage to continue.

In the Name of God, thknowiniful, the Compassionate.

The Most Merciful. * It is He who has taught the Qur'an. * He has created man. * He has taught him speech [and intelligence]>(Q 55:1-4).

We offer Him praa meand thanks, and seek His blessings for His Prophet, whom He sent as a mercy to all the worlds, and through its signs and indications made ing ateatest miracle encompass the universe's truths, so to remain permanently through the passage of time till the Day of Requital, and for all his Family and Companions.

SO KNOW firstly that our aim from these ind diffens is a commentary on a number of the symbols of the Qur'an's ordering and composition (nazm),>for one aspect of its miraculousness is ma destred in its composition. Indeed, the embroidery of its composition is its most brilliant [form on miraculousness.

And know secondly that the fundamental aims of tof eac'an and its essential elements are fourfold: divine unity (al-tawhîd),>prophethood (al-nubûwwa),>the resurrection of the dead (al-hashr),>and juthe na(al-'adâla).>For when mankind, like a successive caravan and procession, departs from the valleys of the past and its lands, travels in the deserts of existence and life and proceeds towards the heighturts ahe future, facing towards its gardens, events shake men and the universe turns its face towards them. It is as though the government of creation sends natural philosophy (fann al-hikma)>to inter like and question them, saying: "O mankind! Where are you from? Where are you going? What are you doing? Who is your ruler? And who is your spokesmanent thone time during this conversation there stood up one from among humankind - as did those like him of the prophets with authority the lord of er, whind Muhammad al-Hashimi (UWBP), and said through the tongue of the Qur'an: "O philosophy! All of us beings we come forth emerging by the power of the Pre-Eternal Ruler from the darkness of non-existence to the lidless existence, and all of us, we sons of Adam, are sent as officials privileged above our brother creatures in bearing the Trust; we are on our way, journeying on the road of thh polirrection towards eternal felicity; and we are busy in this world in preparation of that felicity and the development of the potentialities that are our capital; and I am their master and their spokesman. Here it is before you, my m some to, which is the word of the Pre-Eternal Ruler on which sparkles the stamp of miraculousness." Thus, the answerer of these questions, the correct answer, ieared. other than the Qur'an, that book - the answer is those four fundamental principles.

Just as the four aims are seen in the whole of the Qur'an, so they are manifested in every sura; indeed, three re hinted at in every phrase or alluded to

in every word; because each part is like a mirror to the whole ascending, just as the whole is seen in each part successively. And by this point I mean that by this participation ocongrapart (al-juz')>in the whole (al-kull),>the Qur'an is made known as a totality (al-kullî)>with constituent parts (al-juz'iyyât).

- If you were to ask:>Show me these four aims in "Bismillâh - In the Name of Allah" and "al-haskingllâh - all praise be to Allah."

You would be told:>Since "Bismillâh">was revealed in order to instruct [the Most High's] servants, 'Say!' (Qul)>is implicit in is and essentially it is implied by [all] the words of the Qur'an. So according to this, there is in 'Say!' (Qul)>an indication to prophethood; and in "Bismillâh">a sign to the Godhead; and s lodg prefixing of [the preposition] "bi-">of "bismillâh">a sign to divine unity; and in "the Most Merciful (al-Rahmân)">an allusion to the order [of the universe, and therefore to] justice and beneficence; and in "rs, anst Compassionate (al-Rahîm)">a hint to the resurrection of the dead. Likewise, in "all praise be to Allah (al-hamdulillâh)">is an indication to the Godhead; and in the lâm>of specification (the "li-">of "li-llâh")>a sign to divine uvisit And in "Lord and Sustainer of all the worlds (Rabb al-'âlamîn)">is a hint to justice, and also to prophethood, for the prophets are the educators of humankind. And in whicher of the Day of Judgement (Mâlik yawm al-dîn)">is an explicit statement of resurrection. Likewise, the shell of "Innâ a'taynâka'l-kawthar">(Q 108:1) contains these pearls [of the Qur'an's four main aims]. This is an examprs ago carry on in the same way.

~"In the name of Allah> (Bismillâh)">is like the sun, which illumines itself as well as others and is self-sufficient. Thus, tce wit (bi-)">is related to the verb that is implicit in its meaning; that is, "I seek help from it;" or the meaning usually associated with it; that is, "I swear by it." Or it is relaty, heathe implicit 'Say!' (Qul),>which necessitates a subsequent 'recite!' or 'read!' (iqrâ')>to denote sincerity and divine unity.

As for "name (al-ism)">know that Allah hs mentes pertaining to His essence, and names pertaining to various sorts of action, such as Forgiving, Provider, Giver of Life, and Dealer of Death, and so on. They are various upon merous because of the multiplicity of the relations of His pre-eternal power with the different kinds of beings. Therefore, "Bismillâh">is an invocation, seeking the agency and connection of divine power, that its connection might be a spirinsiderman and a help for him in his actions.

"Allâh:">the proper name of Allah is a comprehensive summary of all the attributes of perfection, for it implies the Essence, unlike other proper nouns, tted, ch there is no necessary implication of attributes. {[*]: Signs of Miraculousness. The Inimitability of the Qur'an 's Conciseness. Revisedsometi(Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2013), 19-21.}

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:only wly: I congratulate you with all my heart on all the festivals and holy nights, both those of the past and future, and the material ones and the spiritual oneeans o entreat divine mercy that your prayers and worship are acceptable, and say "Amen" to them.

Secondly: I am compelled to answer privately two of your questions which in many ways are important and you have frequently asked sociecitly:

Your First Question:>Why was it that in the early Second Constitutional Period you were passionately involved in politics, yet for nearly forty years now you have given them up comy, they?

The Answer:>I understood with complete certainty that the ghastly crimes committed by mankind up to the present sprang from the a of laf the law which is basic to politics and may be expressed as "Individuals may be sacrificed for the good of the nation; persons may be sacrificed for the well-being of the community; everythithat s be sacrificed for the fatherland." This fundamental law created by man is indeterminate and has therefore opened up the way to excessive abuse. This wrongful law issued the fatwa>for the two world wars andjusticurned a thousand years of human progress. So too it permitted the annihilation of ninety innocents on account of ten criminals. On the pretext of the general good, personal e whol razed a town because of a single criminal. The Risale-i Nur>has proved this fact in some of its collections and defence speeches, so I refer you to them.

Thus, in the face of this unjust law of man's were cs and diplomacy I discovered the below-mentioned fundamental laws of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, which comes from the Sublime Throne. They are expressed by these verseart,

No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another>(Q 6: 164 etc.). * If anyone slays a human being - unless it be [in punishment] forculousr or for spreading corruption on earth - it shall be as though he had slain all mankind>(Q 5:32).

These two verses teach the following principle: others are not answerable for a pers happerime, and without his consent, an innocent person may not be sacrificed for the whole of humankind even. If he voluntarily gives his

consent and sacrifices himself, his self-sacrifice is a sort of martyrdom and is another matter.r-of-westablishes true justice for man. For details I refer you to the Risale-i Nur.

Second Question:>While travelling among the nomadic tribes of the east long ago, you used to strongly urge them towards progress and modern civilizationn Courfor nearly forty years now you have called it "low" civilization, and you have withdrawn from the life of society and gone into seclusion. Why is this?

The Answer:>Since of thn Western civilization acts contrarily to the fundamental laws of the revealed religions, its evils have come to outweigh its good aspects, and its errors and harmful aspects its benefits; and general tranquillity and a hately hrldly life, the true aims of civilization, have been destroyed. And since wastefulness and extravagance have taken the place of frugality and contentment, and laziness and the desire for e, and ve overcome endeavour and the sense of service, it has made unfortunate humankind both extremely poor and extremely lazy. In explaining the funsent ial law of the revealed Qur'an:

Eat and drink, but waste not in excess>(Q 7:31),

and,

Man possesses naught save that which he strives>vents 39),

the Risale-i Nur>says: "Man's happiness in this life lies in frugality and endeavour, and it is through them that the rich and poor will be reconciled." I shall here make one or two brief points in accordance with this exprmed fon.

The First: In the nomadic stage, man needed only three or four things, and it was only two out of ten people who could not obtain them. But now, through wastefulness, abuses, stimulating the appetites, and such things t allitom and addiction, present-day civilization has made inessential needs seem essential, and in place of the four things of which he used to be in need, modern civilized mrder tnow in need of twenty, and it is only two out of twenty who can satisfy those needs, and in a totally licit way; eighteen remain in need in some way,

nt fort is to say, modern civilization greatly impoverishes man, Because of the needs, it drives man to wrongdoing and illicit gain. It perpetually encourages the wretched lower cking o to challenge the upper classes. It has abandoned the Qur'an's sacred fundamental law making the payment of zakât>obligatory and prohibiting usury and interest, which ensured that the elongsclasses were obedient towards the upper classes and the upper

classes were sympathetic towards the lower classes, and it encouraged the bourgeousie o beinanny and the poor to revolt. It destroyed the tranquillity of mankind.

Second Point: Since the wonders of modern civilization are each a dominical bounty, ation equire real thanks and to be utililized for the benefit of humankind. But now we see that since they have encouraged a significant number of people to be lazy and indulge in vice, and have gike theem the wish to heed their desires in ease and comfort; they have destroyed these people's eagerness for effort and endeavour. Moreover, by way of dissatisfaction and extravagance, they have driven themwho cassipation, wastefulness, unjustness, and what is unlawful.

For example, as it says in A Key to the World of the Risale-i Nur,>although the radio is a great bounty and demands thanks in the form of being used for the good of humanity, sving mour fifths of it are used on unnecessary, meaningless trivia, it has encouraged idleness and depravity, and destroyed the eagerness for work. I myself even have seen that of a number of highly beneficial marvels whias beeuld be used for endeavour and work and man's true benefits and needs, eight out of ten are urging man to indulge in pleasure and amusement, to satisfy his desires, and to be lazy, and only one or two of e comire being spent on essential needs. There are thousands of examples like these two small ones.

In Short: Since modern Western civilization has not truly heeded the revealed religions, it has both impoverished man and increased his needs. Ite it testroyed the principle of frugality and contentment, and increased wastefulness, greed, and covetousness. It has opened up the way to tyranny they hat is unlawful. By encouraging people to take advantage of the means of dissipation, it has also induced those needy unfortunates to be totally slothful. It has destroyed the desir membetrive and work. It has encouraged depravity and dissipation, and wasted their lives on useless things. Furthermore, it has made those needy and lazy people ill; with its abuses and prodigang treit has been the means of spreading a hundred sorts of diseases.

Humankind is constantly threatened by three awesome matters: severe needs, the tendency towards vice and dissipation, and deat and ud numerous illnesses which perpetually remind him of death - which the atheistic currents that have awakened mankind by their infiltrating civilization show to be eternal extider no. All these cause humanity a hellish torment.

In the face of this ghastly calamity, it is understood from the signs and allusions of the Qur'an of Mir), ands Exposition that with the awakening of its four hundred million students and its sacred, revealed fundamental

laws, it will heal thet by ree awesome wounds - as it did one thousand three hundred years ago; and if doomsday does not soon break loose, with its showing that rather than being eumilitl extinction, death resembles the despatch papers for the world of light, it will gain for humankind the happiness both of worldly life and of the life of the hereafter; and in the civilyers, n that will grow out of the All-Wise Qur'an, the virtues of civilization will prevail over its evils; and unlike what has happened up to the present, a part of religion will not be given as the bribe forruth gof civilization, but civilization will serve and assist those heavenly laws. As the All-Wise Qur'an indicates this, so awakened humanity awa>An ex from divine mercy, and seeks it, and beseeches divine mercy for it.

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifiesbear tith praise!>(Q 17:44)

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal, Devoted Brothers!

Since I have received telegraphs and letters fhaps Iny places for the festival and since I am very ill, the leading students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, my heirs, will have to congratulate both themselves and those close brothers all cee in my place. We also offer congratulations on the great festival of the world of Islam, the eve of which we are now celebrating, and on the establishing in the newly formed Islamic states of Islamic unity, which is beginning to ghty y in Asia and Africa and makes four hundred million Muslims into brothers to one another and helpers, both material and moral and spiritual, and the sacred laws of the All-Wise Qur'an being taken as fundamental in those new Islaurope ates, Together with many signs appearing that the Qur'an, which among all religions bases all its injunctions and truths on reason and proofs, will on its own smash the emerging absolute disbelief, brions agabout this coming festival for the future of humanity. We therefore congratulate with our whole life and spirit the students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ and all the Nur students on their working to publish the Risale-i Nur,>bothame ofme and abroad, in Turkish and Arabic, and a significant section of the religious Democrats for their support of the Risale-i Nur's>free dissemination.

We of thtulate too with our whole life and spirit the more than one hundred and eighty thousand pilgrims, who although there were many reasons for their paucity, performed their holy obligations this Greater Hajj, which is the sacred, heavenly festivss of the religion of Islam and marks the eve of the great festival.

Whenever, these las Proph years, I have gone out around Emirdağ in the phaeton for some fresh air, young children from the age of one to seven have come running up more eagerly than ere ano to their own parents, and have clung onto my hands. They have even fallen under the phaeton once or twice but extraordinarily have been unhurt. Some two or three-yearspite hildren who have never even seen me before have come rushing up over the thistles in bare feet. Then saluting me like grown-ups, have tried ince ts my hands. This situation astonished both myself and my brothers and those who witnessed it. It happened not only in one place, but everywhere and even in the villages I passed throughe comp about.

A sudden, and undeceiving, thought occurred to me due to which both I myself and my friends felt certain that owing to their innent. I, the children around here had a premonition, or instinctive perception, that, although they were not conscious of it with their minds, the Risale-i Nur>would be very beneficial for themselves and other innocent children in thake ision, and that instinctive urge drove them to race more eagerly than if their mothers' had urged them to the person who in respect of its meanings interpreted the Risalspeak.r.

For our part, we had a presentiment and felt that in the future leading Nurjus would appear from among these young innocent creatures, and thar Mastr present behaviour indicated that they would be select Nur students. Since I have no children, I included all of them in my prayers as spiritual offspring, and I mention them every morning together with the Nur studifice Also, there must be a truth which causes a one-year-old innocent child to prefer a forty-year-old unconcerned man and show him sinless, heartfelt

interest. It is also for this reason that I respond sincbolu ato their greetings, the same as I salute grown-ups. And I used to say to them that due to both their innocence, and the fact that in the future they would be true Nurjus, their prayers for me would be acced of I: "You are now my spiritual off- spring, so just as I pray for you, your prayers for me will be acceptable, God willing, since you are without sin. So you pray for me too, for s in teriously ill."

I and the brothers who are with me concluded that there is a strong possibility that in the face of the plans of the Masons and atheists to open schools to educate the yes andccording to communism and then trying to corrupt the youth with the changing schools, the innocent young children of the Turkish nation, which is the standard-bearer of Islam, receiving lessons from the Risale-i Nur>with a lumuth ofawakening, is a response to that calamity being visited on the youth. God willing, it is a sign that both the children and the youth will be saved from the evils of the Masons and atheists furthg to which they display that strange behaviour,

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise!>(Q 17:44)

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and be maxigs, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers and Nur Students of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ!

When I arrived in Isparta, I received the news that a school for ther g-leaders and preachers was going to be opened. This gave me the idea that since most of the pupils who would register for the school would be Nurjthe goNur School should be opened unofficially in the vicinity of the official school and that the latter should be made into a sort of Nur School. A day or two later, a rumour spread that I was going to teach, and it was understood from tpon wheams of men and women from all around who came to listen that if such a semi-official, general Nur School were to be opened, such a thrim Zap crowd would form that it would become impossible. So the idea was abandoned due to the possibility of unnecessary crowds gathering, as they did when we went to the court in Afyon. A second truth was impartees andy heart. It was this:

If anyone has a household of four or five people, he should make his house into a small Nur School. If he does not have such a household and is preve, he should foregather with three or four of his neighbours who show interest, and they should make the house they gather in a small Nur School. If, at least when they are not working, they spend even five or tu, theutes reading or writing out the Risale-i Nur,>or listening to it, they will receive the rewards and honour of true students of the religious scieds of and they will also be performing the five sorts of worship described in the Treatise on Sincerity.>It was imparted to my heart that like true students of the religious sciences, even their commonplace dealitter, en working for their livelihoods may become a sort of worship. So I am telling my brothers of this.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>I cnot atulate you with all my life and spirit on the services you perform for the Qur'an and belief. We are sending you this letter in order to consult you and learn your opinion be harning a subtle matter. Is it appropriate? If it is not, you may correct it.

Secondly:>It is proved in the Risale-i Nur>that divine determining acts justly within the unjust acts of men. That is, sometimes my dr act wrong- fully for some reason and they throw a person into prison, but in that very imprisonment divine determining acts justly duin Ispome other reason, and condemns him to prison for a crime he has committed. Something strange that happened to us elucidates this truth: the imaginity amime of which they could find not the slightest sign yet for twenty-eight years presented in numerous courts and provinces as the reason for accusing and convicting me and unjustly sentencs with to imprisonment, was this:

They said: "Said wants to exploit religion for political ends and he is

doing so." But they could find no evidence for these allegations in my calamitious new life and the th

from the atheistic collective personalityenjoinof secret revolutionary and other societies. An if his soul and ego are perverse, a person who wants to believe may say: "This holy person is deceiving us with his brilliance dict indrous station." And he may remain in doubt.

Thanks be to God, beneath the accusations of exploiting religion for politics these last twenty-eight years and outside my will, divine determining has been striking me totally justly with the tysaved s hand of man so as not to make religion the tool of anything personal. That is, it was warning me: "Beware! Beware! Don't exploit the truths of belief for your own personr>and those needy for belief may understand that it is only the truth that speaks, and the anxiety of the soul and tricks of Satan may be silenced and cease!"

In truth, millions of books write eloquently about the ,>so I that the Risale-i Nur>discusses and thousands of true scholars have taught them, yet they have been unable to halt fully the awesome flood of absolute disbelief in this coEurope Whereas by reason of the above, the Risale-i Nur>has overcome it to an extent, as even its enemies agree. Yes, the Risale-i Nur>has performed this task against absolute disbelief in these taxing conditions. That is to say, its power aent, Cfrom this might mystery.

So with my whole spirit I felt resigned towards the torments and calamities I had suffered for the past twenty-l be ayears. I forgave all of them and I told just divine determining that I deserved its compassionate slaps. For if I had taken the completely licit, harmless way that everyone takes for God's sake and had not sacrificed entirely my Fircal and spiritual feelings, I would have lost this extraordinary non-material power which is found in serving belief. A strange example of the power was that someone read a book about the truths of belihere fcertain persons of whom I could be only the lowest student, and then read a page of the Risale-i Nur,>and declared that that one page of the Risale-i Nur>had saved his belief to a great extent than the other book.

Our Master says that it is good that the trials have been postponed. The fact that upto now the troubles inflicted on the Risale-i Nur>ahave ethe Nurjus have been transformed into mercy shows that there must be

some instances of good in their postponement, one of which mayld hav follows:

With the Risale-i Nur>beginning to show its effect abroad in the Islamic world and to spread, and with the politicians here inis Prog towards westernization a little as a bribe to Europe, to grant the Risale-i Nur>complete freedom as is supposed, would cause doubts abroad in the Islamic world concerning its true sincerity. This would either force the Nurjus to be hypoc! Thenl, or would seriously diminish the Risale-i Nur's>value due to the idea that they show no concern about those inclining to westernization and thus display weakness. The postponement allave shch suspicions and proves that for the past thirty years the Nurjus have not bowed before anything that is opposed to the marks of Islam.

In His Name, be He glorified!

The underlying reason for the two trials this year need to be explained. The reason for the trial here was this:

Fifty years ago, I interpreted a Hadith about the Sufyan and the brimears at. Then much later the courts said that this was an attack on a commander. One reason for the severity of the sentence handed down to me by Afyon Court prehenown to be that attack. But it had not been written at that time and the commander was not alive. Although the hundred million Muslims living under British rule repudiated both it and its religion, this was notat it to be an offence. And the newspapers now strike at least twenty times more severely than I did with that Hadith at that commander, at those former leaders andedicaanders, yet they are not charged with offences and are free to do so. Fifty years ago I cast the stone of a Hadith and twenty years later it struck the head of a commander and broke it. He is now dead and gone and his relations with the governotherand this world are severed. Whereas now the assaults on the leaders of the former party (RPP) as deputies or officials and although they are connected with the government, are is funs a hundred times greater than the slap the Risale-i Nur>dealt, but the newspapers are free to publish them.

The truth about the books being seized is this: only one or two pagle-i N#380

a single book out of the one hundred and thirty-three books of the Risale-i Nur>mentioned that slap. So to seize all the books because of it is a cruned itustice like punishing one hundred and thirty-three men because of one man's error. The books of anti-patriotic, anti-religious atheists, heretics, and communists being found in bookshops and libraries and people reading therhoeven the thoroughly anti-Islamic book of Dr. Dozy, demonstrates that this seizure of the Risale-i Nur>is an unjustifiable, wrongful injustice.

No religious scholar or philosopher has objected tcationriticized the Risale-i Nur>these past twenty-eight years although it has been distributed in the main centres of the Islamic world and in this country. The courts an

#295ticians have objected to only two matters; one, about Islamic dress, the other about a commander at the end of time wearing a brimmed hat and forcibly making others wear it. Subsequently, four or five coelief cquitted all the books including those two matters. So now to seize the Risale-i Nur>with its twenty thousand pages due to those one or two pages, as though convicting it, resembles this: if a man attacke hundher, not unfairly but fairly, but others do not deem this an offence nor do five courts of law count it a crime, to seize twenty thousand pages of the Risale-i Nur>because of two pages and imprison them in Afyon for fthe fad a half years, like convicting twenty thousand men due to an imaginary offence, is an error and crime a hundred times greater than that attack, and an assault against this country.

In beingme, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Endless thanks be to Almighty God that yoe the leading students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, demonstrate that medrese's essential meaning, which for fifty-five years has been my long-sought goaes a dis a result of my life.

Secondly:>Since I am unable due to severe illness and other causes to speak with my Nurju brothers and I am deprived of their conversaell-wiI appoint both you, and the lessons the Risale-i Nur>has given to the New Said in the Qur'an medrese, and the lessons concerning the life of society the Old Said received in the medrese of The Damascus Sermon>and its

addenda, to speak Islamace of this wretched brother of yours with my brothers whom I miss so greatly.

Thirdly:>I offer my condolences to the hero Tahirî, who has made his own house into a small Nur School, and to his relatives, the Inparta, and the Nur circles, on the death his father, who gave his son Tahirî, the outstanding, sincere disseminator of the Risale-i Nur,>Tahirî, to its fold. May Almighty God grant mercy to his spirit to thd beener of the Risale-i Nur's>letters.

Fourthly:>İnebolu set aside three hundred copies of Zühretü'n-Nur>for my account. So I said that one hundred and fifty should be sent to me,worshine hundred and fifty to Isparta. Mine arrived, and as for yours, they can be in exchange for the Letters Collections>you are going to give me later,y Whicf I owe you anything, you can fix the account.

Fifthly:>Convey my greetings to my brothers in 'Iraq and particularly to the keeper of Ustad-i A'zam's {[*]: This probably refers to Nu'mân ibn Thâbit Abû Hanîfa (d. ?15ial fo, generally known as Imam al-A'zam, the illustrious scholar of Islam and founder of the Hanafi school figh. He is buried in Baghdad. [Tr.]} tomb and my brothesincerBaghdad, and tell them that if my life permits, I desire with all my life and spirit to travel to that region.

In His Name, be He glorified!

My Dear ary.

rs!

I was given one of the Old Said's printed works, I took a curious and careful look at it. The following piece was imparted to my heart, which, if appropriate, may be added to the egementthe Letters (Mektûbat).

Firstly: For twenty to thirty years I had been searching for a copy of Münâzarat,>but had been unable to find one. It was printed forty-one years ago by the oss ofya Press and consists of lessons I gave in the third year of the Second Constitutional Period to the Ertuş tribe, and particularly the Kudan and Mamhuran. My intentle-i Ns to explain constitutional government as prescribed by the Shari'a to the tribes thoroughly, and to induce

them to accept it. Recently, someone found a copy and is not to me. I took the head of the Old Said and studied it attentively with the inspirations of the New Said. I understood that with a strange premonition, the Old Saidlamic the material and non-material events that would happen now, thirty to forty years later. Behind the veil of the nomadic Kurdish tribes, he as though saw the irreligious truly backward and treacherous true reactionariescern we present, who mask themselves with a veil of civilization and patriotism and who drive this nation back to pre-Islamic customs, and was speaking with them and striking them on the head.

Secondme, anread carefully from pages 105 to 109 of the printed work, and it seemed as though there was some sort of saint among the tribes I was instructing at that time by means of question and answer. I was unaware of it. At that point, he objected st and t, saying:

"You're exaggerating! You see the imaginary as real, and you're insulting us. These are the end times, everything is going to get gradually worse." It says the onsideing in the book:

"Why should the world be the world of progress for everyone else and the world of decline and retrogression for us? Is that the case? See, involvt going to speak to you, I'm turning this way; I shall speak to the people of the future:

"O you Saids, Hamzas, Ömers, Osmans, Tahirs, Yusufs, Ahmeds and the rest of you who are hidden behind the hptablee of three centuries hence, and listening silently to my words, watch us with a secret, unseen gaze! I am addressing you! Raise your heads and say: 'You are right!' And it should be incumbent on you to say it. Let, and contemporaries of mine not listen if they do not wish. I am speaking to you over the wireless telegraph that stretches from the valleys of the past called history to your elevated future. What with a I do? I was hasty, I came in winter, but you will come in a paradise-like spring. The seeds of light sown now will open as flowers in your ground. And we await this from you as the recompense for our service that when you come to go to the paextremss by my grave, and place a few of those gifts of spring by the citadel of Van, which is the gravestone of my medrese and houses my bones, and is the custodian of the Horhor's earth."

That is toat theas it says in the Thirteenth Hope of the Treatise for the Elderly,>".... and the death of my medrese, which had flourished and been the gathering-plac had friends and was the preparatory school for the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, indicated the vastness of the immaterial corpse of all the medreses in Anatolia, which had been abolished and died; the great

monolith of Van's citadel had become a es sectone to all of them." O you who are to come three hundred years hence, plant the flower of a Nur School on the summit of the citadel! That is to say, construct a physical Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, which has not yet been resurrecongreodily but lives in the spirit extensively and populously.

In any event, the Old Said lived mostly following the dream of that medrese, and from pages 147 to 157, the printed work explains the founding orals tal advantages of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ.

It is an auspicious sign that on the collapse of the ghastly twenty-five- year despotism which killed the medreses, the Education Miniy withTevfik, {[*]: Tevfik İleri (1911-1961) acted as Minister of Education and of other departments in all the Democrat governments of the 1950s. [Tr.]} decided on round nstruction of a Medresetü'z-Zehrâ in Van called the University of the East, and beyond all hope in the midst of pressing affairs, the President, Celâl, even, shared Tevfik's views. This indicates that the Old Said's predictions a with es of forty years will be realized.

Here, three truths will be explained, to elucidate the answer of forty-five years ago.

The First:>With a premonition, the e, andid perceived two strange events, but they needed interpreting like true dreams. Just as if something black or white is beheld through a red filter, it appears red; so he beheld theectly of the matter through the filter of Islamic politics, and it altered it to a degree. The lofty saint who was present saw the error and objected violently in the way explained. There are two parts to the truth of it:

The First:>He uany wh say that a brilliant light would appear in the Ottoman lands, and even before the proclamation of the constitution he many times told this to his students in order to console theme He said too that in the face of all the has nothey were witnessing, it would bring happiness to this country. Forty years later, the Risale-i Nur>demonstrates this truth to eyes that are blind even.

Not considering the Risale-i Nur's>narrow field quantitatively, but perceiving the vastrm thiits it would yield in regard to quality and reality, and looking from the point of view of politics, he spoke of it as occurring throughout the Ottoman lands. The lofty saint objected because [Said] conceived of its narro the sd being extensive. He was right, but the Old Said was also right. For since the Risale-i Nur>saves belief, that narrow field saves through beld Nursverlasting, eternal life, and a million of its students become like a thousand million. That is to say, to try to secure not a million, but a thousand peond haveternal life is more valuable and in effect

more extensive than working for a thousand million people's transient worldly life and cil and tion, With his premonition resembling a true dream, the Old Said envisaged the narrow field embracing all the Ottoman lands. God willing, with the seeds sown by the Risale-i Nur>sprouting in a hundred years time, the broad field will he wag Risale-i Nur's>and his former view will show that his misinterpretation of it was in fact correct.

The Second Truth:>Forty years ago, as written in the Old Said's works and in the Statement of Purpose at the beginning of Signs of Miraculous, our Said used to say to his students insistently and repeatedly that there was going to be a tremendous upheaval in both society and humanity that would be both material and moral and spiritual. He would say that his giving up the world and goinof mon seclusion and remaining unmarried would be envied. In fact, when Shaykh Bakhit, {[*]: Muhammad Bakhît al-Mutî'î al-Hanafî (1271/1854-1354/1935) was educated at al-Azhar, 1865-1875. He was an authority on jurisprudence (fiqh), held not sus posts, and was Grand Mufti of Egypt, 1914-1921. [Tr.]} one of the leading ulema of al-Azhar University, came to Istanbul in the first year of the Second Constitutional Period, he asked the Old Said:

"What have you got to say about s and toman constitutional government and European civilization?"

Said replied: "The Ottomans are pregnant with a European state and will give birth to it one day, while Europe is pregnant with Islam and one day will give birth to an Islten nitate."

The learned Shaykh Bakhit concurred with this and said to the scholars accompanying him: "I can't argue with this man and defeat him!"

We have witnessed the first birth with t withn eyes; in a quarter of a century Turkey is further from religion than Europe. God willing, the second birth with occur in twenty to thirty years. There are numerou and ns in both East and West that an Islamic state will emerge in Europe.

The Third Truth:>The Old Said repeatedly predicted due to the premonition both he and the New Said had, that there woupirit a momentous event, both material and spiritual, and a huge, vastly destructive upheaval in the Ottoman lands. But contrarily to the matter ore of Risale-i Nur,>he saw the extremely broad field to be narrow. As time and the Second World War confirm, he interpreted as follows the broad field he saw in the Ottoman lands:

It is a fact that the destr the p wrought on humanity by the Second World War was enormous, but, since it concerned worldly life and transitory civilization, it was less than that wrought on the Ottomans. Since t thei85

upheaval the Ottomans met with was destruction that damaged everlasting life and eternal happiness and was an upheaval of Islam, its significance was more terrible than the Second hari'aWar, and corrects that error of the Old Said, interprets his true dream, and demonstrates the premonition almost visibly. Apparently, the saint there was right, but in truth, it proves that those perceptions of the Oldnd I swere more correct, and rebuffs the saint's objections.

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise (Q 17:44 elect Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal, Blessed Brothers!

Firstly:>We considered it appropriate to tell you a summary of a lesson {[*]: This subject has been of earated from various angles in the Sixth Ray; see, The Rays Collection. Revised edn. (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2013), 118-22. Also, a section in the Fifteenth Ray; see, Rays, 610-14. [Tr.]} that was given at the request of the leading st heave of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ. The lesson's subject was the Prophet's (Upon whom be blessings and peace) - the Pride of the Universe and Result of thes ofld's Creation - saying the following in place of the greetings on the Night of the Ascension in the divine presence, on account of all the beings in existence and in the name of humankind, in no, of all living beings and all creatures: "Salutations, blessings, benedictions, and supplications, and good words - all are God's!" {[*]: "al-Tahiyyât al-mubârakât al-salawât al-tayyibâod's mâh." Bukhâri, Adhân, 148, 150; al-'Amal fi'l-salât, 4; Isti'dhân, 3, 28; Da'wât, 16; Tawhîd, 5; Muslim, Salât, 56, 60, 62. Etc. [Tr.]} Since each of these words expresses beseeersal meaning and all the Islamic community recites them in the prescribed prayers (salât)>many times every day, each of all the believers of all levg intos a share in them. In connection with this and with the fact that by means of the radio the element air displays wondrous miracles of power, as was explained previously in the Addendum to the Point About the Air,>the folloresponas imparted to my heart:

"It is understood from allusions in the Qur'an that for a believer, the worship he performs in this brief worldly life produces an everlasting

domain in everlasting happiness, so when hRisaleship becomes universal, he worships together with his private world and will receive a reward as extensive as his world." Then the universal meanings of the words: "Salutations, blessings, etc.", which milar plained in the discussion about divine knowledge in the Second Station of The Shining Proof,>occurred to my spirit, and when reciting "Salutations" in the >are phud>of the prayers, the four elements of my private world - earth, water, air, and light - suddenly appeared to my imagination as four universal tongues. Each tongue was reciting through the tongue of disposition millions and tto be ns of: "Salutations, blessings, benedictions, and supplications, and good words - all are God's!" I saw this with my imagination.

As the tongues of the element earth, living, so ts are all living words and declare: "Salutations!" For a handful of earth may act as a flowerpot for most flora and be a source for them. So either there has to be found in every handful thoughth miniscule factories to the numbers of all the factories mankind has ever built, which is totally absurd, or this occurs through the limitless power and infinite knowledge and will of an Absolutely Omnipotent One. Th that to say, in displaying this ability, the element earth utters with all its parts and particles the words, "Salutations to God!" (al-tahîyyâtu lillâh)>in uncountable numbers. That is to say, all the gifts living beings ofed priom pre-eternity to post-eternity through their lives are the Necessarily Existent One's alone.

Then, like in everyone's private world, the second element of my private world, water, with all its atoms and particularly with regard tze andg the source of living beings and serving their lives, was disseminating through the universe through the tongue of disposition millions and trillions ofll andlessed word "blessings" (al-mubârakât).>For the duties that the droplets of water perform in the awakening of seeds and grains and in the seeds manifestingd conc innate functions, and in the perfect, orderly duties of those most beautiful and wondrous tiny creatures and young, and in the circumstances of those blessed beings, which cause all conscious beings to exclaimd to m great are God's blessings! What wonders God wills!" - for all those tasks and duties to be performed each atom of the element water would have to possess the knowledge of thousands of Platos and the will and wisdeason thousands of Luqmans the Wise. And this is absurd to the number of atoms of water. In which case, those blessed beings manifest those countless miracles through the boundless power, mercy, wisdom,ningleill of a Most Powerful One of Glory, a Most Merciful and Compassionate One, and they all utter the words "All blessings are God's" (al-mubârakât e Fatih)>to their number. Since this is so, on the night

of the Ascension, the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the Result of the World's Creation, declared "All blessings are God's!" to th name of all creatures. That is, since all these states and arts, which prompt acclaim and applause and cause one to exclaim, "What wonders God has willed! All or thengs are God's!" proceed from the power of the All-Glorious One alone, the Prophet (UWBP) offered all those blessings to God Almighty in His presence.

Then, since all the atoms of te punful of the element air in everyone's private world - even those expended when uttering the word "Hû!">(He) declare, "All benedictions are God's" (al-salawât li-llâh),>which signifies all theme weaications, orisons, entreaties, and worship present in the duties they manifest of receiving and transmitting sounds, and since they offer those triikar>t upon trillions of words to their Maker and Creator with a universal tongue, the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) offered them and their universal meinisteto Almighty God, also saying, "All benedictions are God's!" That is to say, all supplications and entreaties arising from need, and thanks proceeding from bounties, and worship and prayers, are due ing of Creator of All Things alone. Otherwise, as is explained in the Addendum to the Point About the Air,>each atom of air in the handful expended when uttering the word "Hû!">(He) would hav#363

aossess absolute power and will with which to know all languages, and see where the speakers are located, and hear everything near and far, and understand all accents and idioms and many other things besides, and do all this ified t confusing them, which of course is absurd to the number of those atoms. Since this is so, without doubt and of necessity each of those atoms points to and testifies to the All-Wise Maker together with allermissttributes. Simply, each testifies to Him as the great world testifies to Him, but to a lesser extent. That is to say, "All benedictions are God's!" was pronounced during Muhammad's (Upon whom bmand asings and peace) Ascension, invoking blessings to the number of atoms of air.

Then, as a universal tongue, the element of light and fire - thatationthe element light, physical and non-physical, with and without heat - utters with the tongue of disposition in boundless and infinite fasmentarnd with countless tongues: "Good words - all are God's!" That is, all fine words, lovely meanings, and exquisite beauties, and the manifestations of the pre-eternal Most Beautiful Names whose splendour is seen at the face of the cosmos; and the beauties of the universe and creatures apparent through the belief of foremost the prophets, saints, and purified ones, and of all the believers, and the praise, acclat a soanks, glorifications, and declarations of God's oneness, unity, and greatness proceeding from their belief, which,

in accordance with the verse "Unto Him arise all good words">(Q 35:10), all rise to the Subcollechrone, as do the countless beauties and fine words on the first of the world's three faces, the face which acts as a mirror to the divine names, and the innumerable good deeds and good things and spiritual fruior the beauties on its second face, which is the seedbed for the hereafter. Intending to ascribe all these beauties to the All-Powerful One of Glory, the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, the Glory of the Universe (U how tom be blessings and peace) declared: "Good words all are God's!" offering to the All-Worshipped One of Glory in the name of all creatures this universal wnow re offered with the universal tongue of the element of light and fire. For all the duties the element light, both physical and non-physical, performs point to te of tessarily Existent One both all together and singly and testify to Him in countless millions of ways.

Like earth, air, and water, the element light and fire demons hears self-evidently and decisively in all those ways that causes are merely a veil. All effects and creations are the All-Powerful One of Glory's. For similarly to existence and life, light is worthy of being touched byraved e power without veil and since external causes in no way act as a screen, it displays divine oneness within divine unity. Even in an extremere womor and particular duty, it displays universal and extensive evidence of divine oneness. This has been proved very briefly in A Point About the Aie numbits addenda. The following are two small examples out of millions.

The First:>A small manifestation of non-physical light in a person's head in the form of knowledge, were the words of the ninety books inscribed in hison.

ry, which is the size a fingernail. He could only complete a reading of them by reciting from the page of his memory a part of them for three hours every day for three months. And the same man could refer at will to the Qeanings, words, and forms and sounds in his memory that he had heard and seen in his eighty-year lifetime and the things that had excited his curiosity, and could se and tthings preserved there, so many as to fill a library, all written out and stacked in order.

If it had not been for the vast extent of that retentive faculty, the size of a fingernail, and its all-embracing light be tathe sun, and its non-physical luminescence, and its pages as broad as the face of the earth, the man could not do those things. Since it would be totally imposttee aand absurd, the tiny faculty of memory testifies that the Absolutely Knowedgeable One creates in man's head with His knowledge, wisdom, and power a sample of the is itsved Tablet, which a page of His determining and power.

A Second, Small Example>is electricity. A man studied the strange setup

of histry frric lamp. He saw that although the atoms and materials of its hundreds of buttons and centres and metal wires were lifeless, unconscious, and inactive, on the slightest contact the darkness filling ten squaus rivometres instantaneously disappeared and in half a second the area was filled with light. The visible darkness suddenly disappearing and the light apsuch eg certainly was not imagination. Either those lifeless, unconscious atoms that made the contact both carried within themselves a boundless power and light, and suddenly stretched out their hands to places a hundred kilometres awle-i N chasing away the darkness, filled them with light, which all the satans, atheists, and materialists could not make even a Sophist believe, even if they all came together; {(*): Only tndred ive, they attach some name to profound, significant truths, and vulgarize them as though they have been understood. For example, they say that electricity is "a fovery land they show it to be ordinary and unimportant. But although the instances of wisdom in that miracle of power could only be described inion

#4ages, they attach a single name, and concealing the truth and comprehensive wisdom in it and putting an insignificant, trite veil in its place, they ascribe that miraculous work to blind force, haphazard chance, and imaginary Sözlee, and fall lower in ignorance than Abu Jahl himself. They attach the name of electricity to one of the laws of divine practice - the nand be the laws of divine will - which out of their ignorance they do not know the properties of, and by saying "electrical power" as though it were well understood and making unremarkable ttions acle of power in its illuminating properties, they ignorantly disparage that truly wondrous miracle of divine power. [Author]} or it occurs through the pt thisnd wisdom of the All-Powerful of Glory, the One All-Knowing of the Unseen, the Absolutely Knowledgeable One, whose rule extends over the whole universthe Ot from whose name of Light all lights receive their effulgence, and is the Light of Lights, the Creator of Light, and the Dispenser of Light. There are countless other examplesthe hothese two.

Thus, just as "Good words - all are God's!" signifies the universe offering to the All-Glorious One through the tongue of the element light, ld mede lights, beauties, fine things, good words, virtues, and perfections in all beings; so too, did Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the result of the universe's creation and the reason for the world's creation, decla wholethe night of the Ascension in the name of all the beings in the universe, of which he was the representative, "Good words - all are God's!"

After the Most Noble Messenger (Uciarieom be blessings and peace to the number of atoms in existence) had uttered these four meaningful phrases in place of the greetings, as is explained in the Risale-i Nur,>Almighty God responded by saying: "Peace be ua Eurou, O Prophet!" as though indicating that all his community would utter the same words, and

as an order and command, and acceptance. Then b to hing: "Peace be upon us and upon all God's righteous servants!", he included within the sacred greeting, both himself, and his community, and all his peers who had preceded fit frnd showing that it was a universal and general greeting, he included also all creatures, of which he was the representative.

When the members of his community say: "Peace be upon youir wayophet!" in the prayers, they are complying with the command and decree contained in that divine greeting. They are also paying allegiance to him. And every day they reiterate and renew theinvolvegiance, that is, their acceptance of his office and their obedience to the decrees he brought. Their utterance is also congratulations on his messengership. Also, with these words the whole world of Islam every day express their thankrgoinghis having brought the good news of eternal happiness.

Just as each person feels grieved at the annihilation of his being, so he is pained at the destruction of his house; and he is harrowef the he spoiliation of his country; and he feels grievous pain at the death of his friends and at separation from them; and on thinking of the passing of his personal world, whilways as wide as the world itself, and its separations, and that world finally disappearing, his spirit and conscience are seared with hellish pain. So, on condition they are not completely lacking in spirit, heart, and intelligencdictiv sensible persons will understand the good news of everlasting happiness that Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) saw with his own eyes on the night of the Ascension and the glad tidings of the believers' eternaing to in Paradise and that those they love and are attached to have not been annihilated and that it is certain that they will again meet with them after theielucidppearance. In response to this joyous gift, just as the whole world of Islam every day declares: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet!"' so too, in response to the pages and leveand Isthe cosmos becoming letters of the Eternally Besought One through the gift he brought, and the true value and perfections of creatures becoming apparent through his messengership, all creatures declare tacitly thrave unhe tongue of this truth: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet!" Furthermore, the members of his community greeting one another with the words "Peace be upon you!" is a practice of theitionset (UWBP) (Sunna) and one ray of this vast truth.

In His Name, be Hicatioified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>We congratulate you on the Three Months and the holy nights, which may win an everlasting life of eighty yeat.

d on the Nights of Regâib, the Ascension (Mirac),>Acquittal, and Power (Kader);>{[*]: The Three Months (Ar. al-shuhûr al-thalâtha) of Rajab, Sha'bân, and Ramadâa hund Night of Regâib (Ar. Raghâ'ib) is the eve of the first Friday in the month of Rajab. The Night of the Ascension [of the Prophet Muhammad UWBP] (Ar. Mi'râj) is the eve of the 27th of Rajab. The Naramouf Berât or Acquittal (Ar. Barâ'a): a holy night, falling on the night between the 14th and 15th of the month of Sha'ban. The Night of Power (T. Leyle-i Kader; Ar. Laylat al-Qadr), mostly thought to ng of n the 27th of Ramadan; known as the holiest night of Ramadan and of the whole year, as it was the night the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed. [Tr.]} and we request of divine mercy that the spiritual gains and supplications o ask h of the Nurju brothers will be accepted for all of them; and we congratulate you on your achievements in the service of the Risale-i Nur.

Secondly:>So that you will not pity me too much, I am telling you that the calamity of the total le bles memory I am suffering due to having been poisoned is in fact a bounty and instance of divine mercy for me and a key to disclosing a number of truths. Buves inill request your prayers with my whole life and spirit.

Yes, I have just read the invocations at the beginning of The Shining Lamp (Siracü 'n-Nur)>and I sawstice many wondrous truths are concealed beneath the veils of familiarity, habit, and monotony. Especially irreligious naturalists, philosophers, and the neglectful, they asrothertruths as huge as mountains to common causes as tiny as atoms, and fail to see the numerous miracles of divine power beneath the veils of the laws of divine practice. They thus block up the paths in everythithe fuknowledge of the Absolutely Powerful One. They are blind to bounties in everything and close up the doors of thanks and praise.

For example, just as the manifestation of divine power may inscribe a single word on the page of tfrom t as a million, or millions, of words; so, as intimated by the verse, "Unto Him ascend all good words">(Q 35:10), nonmaterial, acceptable truths are inscribed by the pen of power, all together and instantaneously, in tructivbe of the atmosphere, yet this extraordinary miracle of power is hidden from the view of the neglectful, although it has continued since the time of Adam. And now, it is established through the

same truth, whin provy call the radio, that the manifestation of an infinite pre-eternal power which comprises a limitless knowledge, wisdom, and will, is presligioud seeing in every atom of the air, for although the infinite numbers of different words enter the miniscule ears of each atom and emerge from theirin Diyitesmal tongues, they do not get mixed up, nor are they spoiled or confused. That is to say, because, even if all causes were to gather together, they could in no way achieve said:nifestation of sacred power in the natural duties of a single atom and could in no way interfere in the wondrous art in the infinitesimal ears and tongues of all atoms, the people of misguidance and neglect have hidden them underof coneil of familiarity, habit, laws, and monotony, and attaching some common name to them, have temporarily deceived themselves.

For example, as is explained in tht is a to the Addendum to the Four-teenth Word, if an exceptionally skilful artisan were to make a hundred pounds of foods and a hundred yards of cloth out of a small chip of wood, theTestamone were to say, pointing to the chip: "All these things are natural and appeared out of this by chance," thus completely disregardingin serhe wondrous arts and skills of the master, it would be delirious stupidity and demented misguidance. In just the same way, to ascribe to two seeds like peasaccordmiracles of power as the pine and fig trees, which comprise thousands of wondrous arts, and say: "They came out of these;" or to attach the name "radio" to a gift of the Most Mse of l which makes the globe of the atmosphere into a conference hall and the face of the earth into a schoolroom and place of instruction and knowledge, comprising uncountable bounties and requiring endless thanks, and isrk youitably an advance (muaccel)>{(*): Present in this word is the key to a large treasury of truths. [Author]} sample of the divine favours to be bestowed in everlasting happiness for man - to merely use the word radio anta, or of electricity and airwaves for what is directly bestowed from the treasury of mercy, thus drawing a veil of ingratitude over those innumerable bountously s a grotesque adsurdity of the naturalists and materialists, as in the example above, which being an infinite crime, makes them deserving of infini will ishment.

My brothers! In truth, today I read the invocation at the beginning of The Shining Lamp>with the intention of correcting it. Because my memory had deserted me completely, I was confronted with the invocation'ons ofhs as though I had newly come into the world at eighty years of age, unacquainted with familiarity and habit, so they did not act as veils for ad it with fervour and pleasure, and benefited enormously. I considered it quite marvellous. And I understood that our covert enemies had deceived certain

officials, and making a pretext of thived. part of The Shining Lamp,>had seized it, but in fact they were trying to prevent the spread of the Invocation at the beginning of it. That is, on itvocation is a reason for the irreligious attacking The Shining Lamp,>just as with "A Point About the Air" in A Guide for Youth.

Thirdly:>I give the good news with all my life and spirit that by reason of thn the mum sincerity of the Nur students, and their geniune loyalty and unshakeable solidarity, all the calamities that have befallen us have been transffrom tinto vast bounties, and beneath the veil, the Risale-i Nur>is making unimaginable conquests. For example, a hundred liras>were necessarily given for the car to bring me to the court here, that is, Istanbhty Goom Isparta. I can assure you that if I had given two thousand liras>just for this question and for the resulting service which concerned only the Guide and my own person and hahim torred and were beginning to occur. The results concerning people at large may be compared with this.

In connection with the discussion about the radio in A Key to the> Risale-i Nur,>one day when travelling by car with two universit humanents, we were listening to a Mevlid>on the wireless. I told those two Nurju students:

A proof that the manifestation of divine power is direct and without veil in light, as it is in life and existence, is that the tiny ao thatof air and nonphysical light in this small machine hears and speaks not only the words of the Mevlid,>but also, at the same time, thousands or even millions of words. For it may hear and relate to us are a t different words broadcast by thousands of radio stations, the same as it does the words we are hearing now. That is to say, the most particular becomes the most universal. Moreover, that tiny piece of air performs tasks as great as the gland wo the air; it grows to the size of the atmosphere. If this is not ascribed to the manifestation of pre-eternal power, it becomes a contradiction so delusory as to surpass all imagilect a. Since it is precluded for something to be transformed into its

opposite, it would be a hundredfold contradiction and an inconceivable misconception and impossibility for the most particulacted become the most universal, its opposite, and the smallest to become the largest, and the most lifeless, ignorant, unconscious, and powerless to become the most capable, most percipient, and most conscious with the strongest will recei is to say, it is self-evidently a manifestation of pre-eternal power. The meaning of the following Hadith depicts fully that manifestatiod the he globe of the air. It is like this:

There is an angel with forty thousand heads in each of which are forty thousand tongues, and each tongue utters forty thousand glorifications. The angel utters sixty-four trillion ppearaications at the same time. That is to say, the globe of the air resembles the angel; "good words" to the number of the angel's glorifications are inscribed on the page of the air. The globe of the air derism a: "This Hadith describes me or the angel who is appointed to supervise me, for to utter all the speech of men and all the other sounds, without confusiion ofm although they are all mixed up, with all the sounds, accents, and idioms of all the speakers with their distinctive voices shows that it is in no way possible to ascribe this task, which every single atom of air performsiends universal consciousness, to either myself, that is, to the globe of the air, or to any causes. It is, therefore, the manifestation of a pre-eternal power which is all- of tht and all-seeing everywhere through the manifestation of oneness, and comprises comprehensive will and all-embracing knowledge. And one of the millions of witnesses to this is the radio."

A summary of the comllnessn in the Thirteenth Word between the wisdom of the Qur'an and the wisdom of philosophy is this:

Humanly inspired philosophy draws the veil of the commonplace over the truly wondrous miraur Masf mercy and divine power. It neither sees nor shows the evidences of divine unity beneath those commonplace matters and the wondrous bounties they contain. But it sees sale-iular freaks which have deviated from the norm and accords them importance. For example, it does not notice the miracles of power in the creatipearinthe human being and it attaches no importance to them. But it is filled with amazement at a two-headed man or three-legged freak who opposes the natural laws, and holds r to p as a spectacle with much ado. It conceals the universal, general miracles within the veils of the laws, and it exhibits for examination particular matters that have deviated intrighe laws and from their own species. And for example, the followers of human philosophy consider unimportant and ordinary the quite extraordinary and miraculous sustenance of the young of animals and humans, and then create a furobuse oAmerica, as

was published in the newspapers, when some fishermen saw some creature that had got separated from its species and had sunk to the bottom of the sea, and then wept when that fed some green leaves and was saved. Whereas there are thousands of miracles of mercy and grace in the sustenance bestowed to the least young from the breasts of its mother like the sprm send Kawthar, and in others like this. But human-inspired philosophy does not see them that it might offer thanks and recognize the Most Merciful and Compassionate One and respond to Him with gratitude.

Yes, the wisdom of te. My 'an rends the veil of the commonplace and teaches humankind those universal, general wondrous miracles and extraordinary bounties; it makes known Almighty God and urges men to worsh, and and offer universal thanks.

One of the very strangest errors of human philosophy is this: human will and choice are insufficient for speech, the most obvious and least of actions; they cannot create it; they can otial tit air and articulate the sounds of the letters. Almighty God creates the words in consequence of that particular act and makes thousands of copies of thelows the air. Anyone with a grain of intelligence would understand what a serious error it is to give the name of "human invention" - although man lacks the noter to do that much - to wondrous, universal miracles of power which all the causes in existence are powerless to produce.

An example of this is to say about a wretched, absolutely impotent man who due toess iniscovery, for human advantages, of a divine law which comprises a hundred thousand marvels, that is, the radio, which was dis- covered through divine inspiraso as s a sort of acceptance for active prayer: "Ah! So-and-so the inventor created the radio and discovered electrical forces. And some other inventors are trying to create a substance for reading the human mind!"

Yes, Almighty God created thefor porse as a guest house for human beings containing all their needs and requisites; He bestows bounties on them in the form of feasts which have remained concealed down the centuries, as a consequence of their investigade in aided by their joint efforts and the meeting of minds, which are a sort of active prayer, While thanks should be offered for these, it is contempt fed if bounties and ingratitude to look on them as the inventions of common, powerless men, and cause those wonders, which are the result of a universal consciousness, knowledgethis s, mercy, and grace, to be forgotten and to refer them to unconscious chance, nature, and lifeless matter. It is to open the door to absolute ignorance, which is opposed to the essence of humanity, created as it iscome ie finest of forms. It is imperative, therefore, to look on creatures as signifying

something other than themselves (manâ-yı harfî),>{[*]: Other-indicati In Hthe significative meaning of things (manâ-yı harfî) and self-referential or the meaning of things that looks to themselves (manâ-yı ismî) are the terms Bediuzzaman used to refer to the Qur'anic waSümerbooking at things on the one hand and the materialist way on the other. He wrote: "According to the Qur'anic view, all the beings in the universe are letters, exprt they through their significative meaning, the meaning of another. That is, they make known the names and attributes of that Other. Soulless philosophy for the most part lrugalin accordance with the meaning that looks to the thing itself and deviates into the bog of nature." See, The Flashes Collection (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2011), 156). [Tr.]} in accordance with the lines: "In everything is a sign * Indicaans thhat He is One.">{[*]: Attributed to Ibn Mu'tazz, quoted in Ibn Kathîr, Tafsîr al-Qur'ân al-A'zîm, i, 24.} Then human beings may be truly human.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowlenctionve that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!>(Q 2:32)

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with in ace>(Q 17:44)

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

"And from Him alone do we seek help">(Q 1:5).

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:t for parable of those who take protectors other than God is that of the spider, who builds [to itself] a house; but truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider's house; - if they but knew">(Q 29:41). Recently, when reading this verse, which has of belaning: the frailest house is the spider's; if only those who associate partners with God knew; that is, if only the unbelieving chiefs of the Quraysim tha ... ", I suddenly felt an acute anxiety that the verse's eloquence had not been given its due. At that moment I opened Zülfikar-The Miracles of Muhammad>to correct it, and the following lines struck my eye:

"The First Incident: This is welwere bn to the degree of consensus in meaning (mânevî tevatür)>and concerns the two pigeons coming and waiting at the entrance to the cave of Hira, where God's Messenger (Uponer bribe blessings and peace) and Abu Bakr the Veracious hid from the pursuing unbelievers, and the spider veiling the entrance with a thick web, like a curtain holder. Ubayy b. Khalaf, one offancieeaders of the Quraysh whom God's Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) killed with

his own hand at the Battle of Badr, looked at the cave, When his companion (Uponested that they enter, he replied: 'Why should we? I see a large spider's web which appears to have been there since before Muhammad was born.signs ]: See, Letters, 185-6. [Tr.]}

I suddenly saw a miracle in the conditional particle "if" (lau)>and an elevated flash of miraculousness, which dispelled my anxiety. It was like this:

The Sura of the Spider (al-'Ank the bwas revealed in Mecca. The leaders of the Quraysh had not come to believe in the Prophet (UWBP) and were conspiring to kill him, yet the smallest and weakest of creatures was going to oppose their vicisults saults and defeat them. That is to say, by indicating this, that although the spider's web, its house, is the flimsiest veil, it was going to defeat those powerful chiefs, the verse was saying:

"If they had known they at theoing to be confounded by the frailest of creatures, they would not have embarked on this conspiracy."

Just as the verse, "This day We shall save you in your bone ofQ 10:92) displays an historical miracle with one word, {(*): In The Miracles of the Qur'an (the Twenty-Fifth Word), it says: "'This day We shall save you in your body' (Q 10:92). By saying tossion haraoh, who is drowning: 'Today I am going to save your body which will drown,' it is expressing a death-tainted, exemplary rule of the Pharaoh's lives, which was, as a consequence of the idea of metempsychosis and mummifying ti'l-İdies of all of them, to take them from the past and send them to be viewed by the generations of the future. And this present century a body was discovered which was the very body oven toaoh, thrown up on the seashore where he drowned. The verse thus states a miraculous sign of the Unseen, that the body was to be borne to the waves of centuries and cast up from the sea of time onto the shore of this century." See, Words, 414.Note: As has been published in the newspapers, the Aboutans found that very body of the Pharaoh and took it to be displayed in their museums. [Author]} so with the allusion in the words, "if they but knew">(Q 29ople hn the Meccan sura above, it displays a flash of miraculousness by indicating the wondrous divine protection in the incident in the cave at Hira and in the prerstoode prophetic miracle. I saw that to call this sura The Spider and call attention to its insignificant web was completely apt and conclusively rebuffed any doubts or uncertainty con us mag the verse, I offered endless thanks to Almighty God, for I had understood that there were flashes of miraculousness in the Qur'an's suras and verses, and Then dn its words and phrases, and even in its letters.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessingcopies ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal, Unshakeable, Steadfast, Devoted Brothers!

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my whole life and spirit on the nights praised in the verses, "By the break of day; * By the nights twice fiveve ins9:1-2), and on the festival. And I request your prayers for my severe illness.

With the idea of hindering the shining conquests of the Risale-i Nur,>covert enemies of religion are troubling us with arbitrary laws and by utilizients otain officials, and are trying to deter a few of the select Nurjus. In short, during these blessed days, they sent the experts' report { in plt will be sent to you later for your information. [Author]} about A Guide for Youth>to me from Istanbul, which was motivated by irreligion. I am referring it to you to reply to them siy and am severely ill from poison.

I am referring it to the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ and its branches to silence the experts' committee concerning the work, which was written twelve years ago, has been the sum, Ziyof acquittals and amnesties, has been found to contain nothing reprehensible by the five courts of law that have scrutinized it, has been beneficial for ten thousand people, particularly tom of th, and caused them no harm, and together with its addenda has been proved in my main defence speech to yield enormous benefits for this country. I refer to those Nurju brothers the duty of demonstrating with evidences that the committeee to scted completely illegally in the name of the law, and in the courts has been woefully unjust in the name of justice, and in response to thei only ng about the Guide>that it exploits religion for politics, to show that they have wanted to exploit politics and their judicial duties for irreligion.

I say the following in reply to the accusation tharadio ploit religious emotions for politics:

I cite as witnesses my whole life and those who know me and call on them to testify that even at the time I was political I did not exploit religion for politics, but strove with all my strength ulemake politics serve religion and follow it. The story of my life and my friends will testify to this. Moreover, at the beginning of the Second Constitutional Period when those who wanted the Sthanks were being hanged, the chairman of the military court and its members declared in the course of the trial of that terrible court set up by the Operr the Army, on the day it had condemned fifteen men to the gallows: "You're a reactionary! You clamoured for the Shari'a!" Is it at all possible that the person who replied: "I am ready to sacrifince oflife for a single matter of the Shari'a! If constitutionalism consists of the tyranny of one party and it acts contrary to the Shari'a, let the whole world bear witness that I am a reactionary!" - is it at alpoundeible that such a person, who attaches not the slightest importance to his execution and would sacrifice his whole world and everything he has for the Shari 'a, would exploit religione necehe Shari'a for some political ends. Anyone who deems it possible could not be a Sophist even.

Furthermore, it can only be the result of malice and vindictiveness to accuse of expllage o religion for politics, inferring the disturbance of public peace and security, a person who considers it a serious error to violate the rights of a single innocent in this country by serving the interests througperts'tics of ten cruel despots, and has never retaliated towards the ten tyrannous wrongdoers who have tormented him, nor even cursed them, and throughout his life has taken the avoidance of public disturbances as a guiding princ It isIt is obviously a grievous injustice to say about a person that he causes harm to either public order or the country or politics when despite all their investigations, six provinces and six courts estruc have discovered no incident involving his hundreds of thousands of students, although they have suffered unprecedented ill-treatment, torments, and insults over twenty-eight years.cs whoey should not suppose that in the face of these unjust accusations I am trying to absolve myself of responsibility and save myself from conviction. I can assure you, and my pondeds who know me well will affirm, that

during these twenty-eight years I have been quite certain that death would be much better for me than life, and the grave much more comfortable for me than prison, and prison would be ten times mor two dntageous for my ease and comfort than freedom of this sort. If some of my friends had not been saddened at it, I would have remained in prison permanently.

If suicide had been licit, surely a person who did not condescend to boence, re the threats of the Russian commander-in-chief and the commander of the allied forces occupying Istanbul to execute him, or in the face of the fury of the President of the Republic in the president's office in the presenc Nur.>ifty deputies, would have far preferred death to life on being subjected frequently to the insulting humiliations, slanders, torments, and severe provocations of common gendarmes, paltry officials, and uncouth prison guards. Death l illnhave been sweet for him.

Since they are making a pretext of the Guide>and I am being accused due to some unimaginable and astonishing delusion, I and my brothers say the following since we have saved our belief and m here.from danger thanks to the truths of the Guide:

The Guide>was composed fifteen years ago, and having been printed three times, thousands of copies and tens of thousands of handwritten copies h Tarsuen disseminated everywhere in this country and have been read eagerly. Despite this, not one of its hundred thousand readers, friend or foe, rthe Quus or anti-religious, has said that they have suffered harm from it, nor have we ever heard any of them saying that it is harmful for the countr, he dnation. If that had been the case, such words would have spread everywhere since it is a topical and relevant question. If necessary, we can put forward to testify to this claim of ours close on a hundred thousand witnpted mwho declare that they have saved their belief through it, rectified their national character, and profited from it.

If some small mistho att disregarded for a person who possesses ten virtues, how can charges be made against a work that has yielded a hundred thousand benefits and useful rdeputi due to some baseless, imaginary fault? No law in the world related to the life of society could ascribe guilt in such a situation.

The members of the experts' committee who studied the wre on d no knowledge of the Islamic and religious sciences; they noted the following as chargeable offences:

The First:>They said it is opposed to seculannectind exploits religion for politics.

The facts that its author has renounced politics for the past thirty-five years and has not read the newspapers, and has alfor thold his students not to become involved in politics refute that charge entirely.

The Second:>His support of religious education is shown to be an offence.

To this we say that there is no believer in the world who would call this p and ence, especially those among them who are the wretched inmates of prison where he gave them instruction to console them. It was then that he said he was in favour of religious instruction, This shows that their accusation is mead it wss. In fact, the three hundred prisoners being reformed by the Risale-i Nur>in a short period of time, and their repenting of their crimes and all of them performing the prescribed prayers attracted the attention of the officials iny roome. Some of them said that the Risale-i Nur>yields more benefits in a fortnight than remaining in prison for fifteen years. They said this to the author of the Guide>in prison, and he replied:

A person who reads even a part for Ae Risale-i Nur,>which consists of one hundred and thirty books, and A Guide for Youth,>which is a small part of the Risale-i Nur,>will of course prouring om it as much as from the punishment of fifteen years' imprisonment and studying in the medrese, and will be reformed and repent of his evil deeds. Could such a wish, such encouragement be deemed a crime, althoughbuse as been affirmed by those who sent me to prison?

The Third:>Supporting Islamic dress, conduct, and training is shown to be an offence.

As was stated in the courts of Eskişehir, Denizli, and Afyon, and published in the Afized, urt decision, fifteen years ago the court at Eskişehir accused me of being in favour of Islamic dress for women. I replied as follows to both the court there and the Appeal Court:

"llness who accuses a person of expounding a Qur'anic verse about Islamic dress which has been a sacred principle in the social life of three hundred and fifty million Muslims was tcentury for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, in line with the agreed meaning of three hundred and fifty thousand commentarieines ffollowing the beliefs of our forefathers for the past one thousand three hundred and fifty years -anyone would fiercely reject such an accusation if there is any justice on the face of the earth, and if judgement explossed in favour of the accusation, would cancel and countermand it."

The Risale-i Nur>proves decisively that the command to women in this verse to veil themselves is a significant instance of compassion and saves them from abasement,nts atas an article of mine published in the one hundred and fifteenth issue of Sebilurreşad,>entitled "To My Believing Sisters of the Hereafter," proves it.

The Fourth:>Sec, or Ipersonal influence is shown to be an offence, and

the reason for this is the Risale-i Nur's>author using such expressions as: "I am speaking in the name of the Risale-i Nur's>collective personality," "it was imm, and to my heart," "it occurred to my mind," "it occurred to my heart," and, "the Risale-i Nur>produces the benefits of both the secular schools, and the religious schools (medrese),>and the Sufi tekkes.">The experts' comppy wo cited these as offences in their charges. In reply I say this:

A man over eighty years of age is at the door of the grave, and for the past forty years has accustomed himself to seclusioost vi having lived for twenty-eight years in absolute isolation, in prison and exile, is weary with the world. For thirty-five years he has neither read the newspapers nor listened to their being read. Ne to ho his life has he accepted unreciprocated gifts, and has accepted nothing at all from his closest relatives, even his brother, without giving something in return. He has taken not meeting with people as sses ale, unless necessary, so as to avoid their high regard and attention. He has never accepted his friends' acclaim for himself, and has referred it either to the Nurjus as a wholes.

Like just about everyone, he says "It occurred to me," or "The thought came to me," or, "It was imparted to my mind." Everyone uses expressions like these. My intention in using thnce outo say that my writings are not due to my own skills or intelligence, but they come to me and occur to me. And this is something that everyone says t murde what the ill-informed experts' committee mean is inspiration, scientists and men of learning are agreed that all living creatures from animals to angels and human beings, everyone, receives inspiration ofIt is t. To call this an offence necessitates denying science and learning.

The Fifth:>"The author is of the opinion that he can save with answers to those who seek help from the Risale-i Nur,>a generation which matom bsibly be captive to an enticing dissension." The experts deemed this statement an offence. The attentive may understand just how meaningless it is to consider it an offence his saying: "I feel certain about a trutas a ch has been proved by one hundred thousand witnesses and is open and clear."

The Sixth:>They have shown to be an offence his saying: "Let the ears ring of the politicians, sed to gists, and moralists!" But he meant that the politicians and moralists should disseminate the short and easy way he had discovered to save the youth from dangers. With regard to humanity, those who say "Let their ears ring!" is an offence arin thaselves guilty.

The Seventh:>"He says that there is a renegade collective personality which incites dissension and teaches it, and its spectre has appeared. But he does not say who it is." The experts' isale-tee put this forward as a chargeable offence. Do the satans among jinn and men ever cease to pursue their activities in the world? They are perpetually busy doing evil and getting others to do itand inhose ill-informed experts failed to understand that they are attacking us pointlessly. Since by using the word "collective" (mânevî)>he meant non-physical, non-material, and he did not state who it was, those who say they will send was, t court for insulting a "non-physical" man; that is, insulting a Satan, for which no court in the world could try him, are uttering complete, meaningless nonsense.

The Eighcrats ey show to be an offence "the author's repeatedly and insistently explaining and claiming that he relies on the bases of the Risale-i Nur,>which proceeds and issues directly from the miraculousness of he mirr'an of Miraculous Exposition's meanings (i'caz-ı mânevî)>and thus bases his propaganda on religious evidences and persuasion."

As affirmed by all the readers of the Risaial edur,>and particularly by famous scholars in Egypt, Damascus, Pakistan, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs, "The Risale-i Nur>is a true commentary on the Qur'an, and belongs to >Becaur'an, and consists of flashes from it." In which case, the reason for this error will be sought at the supreme tribunal at the Last Judgement, from those who show the above to be infrintitutis of the law.

"God suffices us, and He is the best Disposer of Affairs">(Q 3:173).

[The objections presented in 1952 to the court in Istanbul conducting thbeing ide for Youth trial, in reply to the experts' committee.]

In connection with the printing and publication of A Guide for Youth,>which is a part of the Risale-i Nur>and due to which court pr spirings have been opened against its author, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, we have studied the report of the experts' committee set up to investigate the work and seen that it completely distorts the facts and reflects the irreligious views of the Islamfor Admies.

A Guide for Youth>is one part of the Risale-i Nur,>which consists of one hundred and thirty parts and is a mine of belief, knowledge, and virtue. Because we know and cansforme that this nation is bound with all its life and spirit to the elevated truths that the Risale-i Nur>contains and is a treasury and guide leading the nation to both material and spiritual happiness, we reject th. Hajisations of the experts' committee and with all our strength throw it back at it. We submit the following to the judges of the court:

The report submitted by the experts' committee is an exal who f the conspiracy to cast aspersions on the life, history, customs, and laws of this country and nation, and on all they hold sacred. It is totally foreign, contemptuous of the present laws, and mtles the government, denigrates the thousand-year history of this nation and insults all its forefathers, and attacks the beliefs of our twenty million brothers who live in this country today. Itundingt possible for a court of justice to consider it to be creditable.

We ask those who assumed the name of experts and put their signatures to this treacherous document, is this nation irreligious? Has this nation been dep will for centuries, without religion or belief? Did those forefathers who gilded the shining history of this nation spend all their lives tramping the roads ofer toelief and scattering vice and misguidance to the world? Is it a lie that the great conquerors whose heroism fills history and the nation to which they belonged, which opened a new age on conquering Istanbul, and with its being t univendard-bearer of the Qur'an, brought the light of guidance, knowledge, and virtue to East and West and instructed Europe in true civilization, and illuminated ey shoty with the light of Islamic civilization? Or is it a lie that with the instruction it received from Islam, this nation adorned its women and girls with behaviour inspiredülfikae Qur'an, protecting their honour and dignity and preventing them being treated as common chattels. Could it be the case that our forefathers, male and female, who were faht, I s the Turkish champions of Islam and we know to have been at the pinnacle of good morals, honour, and rectitude, and whom we take pride in, on the contrary, did nay andlow the Qur'an or conduct themselves in accordance with its mores, but displayed themselves naked to the world?

We address the fair-minded and the present generation who take prire brotheir history and heroic ancestors and all they held sacred. Come and see! Express your regret and condemnation of these slanderers, who have written and signed this treacherous documents whison ofults your history and your religion of Islam, and disparages and affronts the name of Islam, which you know to be the very spirit of your spirit, amewhat Qur'an, which

has lit up the universe for fourteen centuries and with its sacred, divine rules, illuminated the millions of your forefathers for a thousand years and guided them to Paradise, and belittley God mothers, grandmothers, and sisters, who have received the light of its training and preserved their fine morals and honour, and through their dress, conduct, and lives hThe Numonstrated the true meaning of womanhood and true beauty. Declare that you reject such a document!

And now, those slanderers have seized the work of a champion of Islam who is eighty years old, suffering severe illness dueor I aison, and has been subjected to torments in prison because of his services to religion the work called A Guide for Youth,>which teaches belief, high morals, s and rtue to the youth in order to protect them from the immorality and vice that all the intellectuals and many educationalists and patriots are now complaininhe Ispand makes them into useful members of the country and nation, and as the most powerful force for securing public order and security, serves this gh the's happiness. They have seized this work and so as to convict its esteemed author, they are saying this:

"Bediuzzaman supports women wearing Islamic dress. He depicts those women who parade the streets half naked a innocps under Satan's command in the war against Islam. He considers it a sin for women to participate in social life with bare legs. He believes that the immodest dress of the present is an obstacle to marriage and encold not immorality. According to him, what beautifies women and is their true adornment in social life, is not to exhibit their bodies but to conduct themselnd so accordance with the norms and training of the Qur'an and Islam. He favours religious instruction. He says that thanks to the instruction given by the Risale-i Nur,>convicts in prison are reformed in a space of two weeks, as is test is thto by the prisons of Denizli and Afyon and their directors, guards, and judicial authorities. It is Bediuzzaman's opinion that youth who fall victim to alluring temptations can be itted through religious truths and the Risale-i Nur's>teachings about belief."

They condemn him because of these ideas and say he should be convicted. And they are the professors and lecturers in law given twith ae of the experts' committee who teach the young people of this country justice, right, and freedom.

Judges! You, as the representatives of tre is ntice, defend public law and national honour! If it is accepted that the instruction in belief and fine morals contained in A Guide for Youth>constitutes an indictable offence, as asserted by the rta, as' committee's report, and its author is deemed guilty before the law, you have to concur with their insulting disparagement of

this nation and its thousand-year history and its traditions and laws, and the sacred truths of Islaar, buteachings of the Qur'an, which are the cause of its pride, and of its noble forefathers, who embracing those sacred truths proclaimed Islamic civilization in all is housry to the world; and with their trampling their honour and rights, Only by condoning this serious moral crime, can the crime the so-called experts' commat theimpute to A Guide for Youth>be deemed a crime. Only in that way can its author be convicted and his students who published it be condemned. For the principles of legal justice and freedom of thought and of consause o would not permit their conviction and trial. Such a course of action is not conformable with the laws of the republican government ensuring democracy, for it implements the principles of freedom of tduty i and of conscience in the broadest sense.

If the accusation is made that the religious instruction given with the publication of A Guide for Youth>is cn somey to secularism, what is the meaning of secularism? We ask this. Is secularism hostility to Islam? Is secularism the freedom of irreligion to attack the religion of those who embrace a religion? Is secularism as namsolute despotism which fastens locks on the mouths of those who pronounce religious truths and disseminate the truths of belief, and snap handcuffs on their wrists?

Since secularism is freedom of conscience and thought, can the irreltion a and enemies of religion make every sort of assault on Islam, and on the pretext of those freedoms publish their anarchic ideas, while a scholar of Islam who teaches religion in at withnce with those principles within a nation which for a thousand years has been a commander of Islam and following its traditions and laws, for its happiness and on the way of preserving its morality -i Nurnour - can such a scholar be shown to be guilty of a crime because to do so is opposed to secularism? Can he be defamed and accused of wanting to make the laws of the land conform to religious beliefs? We do not consider it poto def that such an impossibility be possible. We know without doubting that justice would not permit such a thing.

A Guide for Youth>is one part of the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risalharityr>which courts of law have acquitted and returned to their owners in their entirety, and is in truth the chief means whereby this country and nation may win happiness. Hundreds of Nur students have told the courts how they have rlity, ese works and through its lessons have been saved from the pitfalls of vice and misguidance. Thousands of Turkish youths have proved through their liv no me the services they have performed that through these works they have become useful members of the country and nation. So we, those youths, throw back their baseless accusations in those slanderers' faces.e sinc How regretable it is that a work that has assisted in maintaining public order and preserving morality and has proved enormously beneficial for the judiciary and policend secday shown to be harmful and contrary to the law in a way totally opposed to the truth. In the face of such an obvious contradiction, we refer it to fair-minded people s anotscience, and about our Master say in reply to the experts' committee accusation of his exploiting religion for political ends that they are exploiting the judiciary for purposes of irrestood .

Another imputed crime in their report is that the author speaks in the name of the Risale-i Nur's>collective personality, and that he is attempting to secure personal influence by employing such expressions as "it was impao-Islao my heart" and "an important matter that was imparted to my heart on the Night of Power."

One can only suppose in the face of such baseless and meaningless accusations that those persst twoo call themselves experts are far from deserving such an epithet; one is astonished at their ignorance and lack of discernment. If only the experts of the committe had studied this side of the question carefuhich id with respect, they would perhaps have saved themselves to a degree from casting themselves into the pits of ignorance. All the parts and letteels hathe Risale-i Nur>and the entirety of our Master's life form the clearest evidence that his whole endeavour and all his work and service are for truth and right alone and he speaks only for the sake of thstant h. Those so-called experts displayed their bigotry in irreligion by reading only a tiny part of the Risale-i Nur Collection>and wrote these calumnies in order to be able to in,>one t come what may. However, while explaining the Risale-i Nur's>lessons, our esteemed Master says that the foremost of them are impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection.

In truth, enduring the mto kiscious torments and persisting in his striving and work, our esteemed Master has smashed with his universal service and the Risale-i Nur,>which is derived from the All-Wise Qur'an's truths of belief, the disbelieving way of the mateproffets and naturalists, and has withstood their merciless assaults. With the assistance of his hundreds of thousands of eager students, who are indebted to him for the instruction in belief they have received, he Sadıksseminated everywhere hundreds of thousands of copies of the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur.>He has demonstrated with decisive proofs and arguments the truths of belief, which act as a barrier before the assaults in this cnumber of irreligion and especially of communism, and with his proofs of belief in God and divine unity - the diamond swords of the Qur'an - he has routed the fallacious ways of unbest imand misguidance. The treatises of the Risale-i Nur

arge collections of my writings. Since no court could find anything in these matters and could not convict me, for other courts to insistently seize on the same maole ofis completely opposed to the law, reason, and customary practice. Indeed, those who exploit politics for irreligion direct these accusations at us as a screen for themselves. Whereas my sixty-year life of scholarship in the servnd des religion is certain proof and a decisive argument that throughout my life I have followed the principle of making politics, this world, and all sng harcurrents the tools, servants, and followers of religion. I have claimed and proved with decisive evidence in the courts that I would not exchange a single truth of belief for rule ovn writ whole world, let alone exploit religion for politics. Although this is the case, certain members of the judiciary and politicians who occupy harbolaces have imagined the accusation, which is in twenty ways opposed to the truth, to be the truth, and for twenty-eight years have acted unjustly towards me. Recently, Iatientunderstood the true reason for this, which is as follows:

The gravest danger that faced me in serving belief at this time of egotism, and my most serious offence and crpractias the possibility of exploiting the work I did in serving the Qur'an for my own material and spiritual progress and attainment. I offer endless thanks to Almighty God that outside my will over this long period of gh the perceived a powerful, non-material obstacle preventing me from making my service a tool of anything at all, let alone of my spiritual prohe strand attainments, and a means of being saved from the torments of Hell, and even gaining everlasting happiness. I was always astonished at this. Why was I being prevented in my spirit from winning through good worksat it piritual ranks and the happiness of the hereafter that everyone wants, although it is licit and harmful in no way? Then it was shown to me that to serve belief, seeking divine pleasure alone and as an innate, scholarly duty, was itself taving e.

For at the present time, such Qur'anic instruction is necessary as is the tool of nothing, and follows nothing, and teaches the truths of belief effectively to those in neethe Ish innate worship and affording complete certainty to everyone, and following no other aim. This is the sole solution in these terrible times. Only in this way may it ons whabsolute disbelief and obdurate, perverse misguidance, A person may feel completely confident in such instruction in present conditions by knowing that it is being exploited for nothing, neither personal, worldly, or pertaining to the hight oer, or material or spiritual. For even if he has attained the highest spiritual rank, the person cannot counter the diabolical whisperings issuing

are now being disseminated in the main centres of the Islamic world and are meeting with praise and appreciation. A deputy minister from Pakist. In t visited Turkey last year told the forty to fifty university students he was addressing:

"My brothers! I have found in Turkey what I was searchinghe youn the Islamic world. Bediuzzaman belongs not only to you, but to the whole world of Islam. It will soon come to know and understand him. You should taken and se look at the Risale-i Nur,>for I am going to publish it among our ninety million Muslims. I had numerous worries about the world of Islam anmen, trous questions to ask the Master. I remained with him for only an hour, and just listening to him, I received answers to all my questions and all my anxieties evapora a sorow I am returning to Pakistan with good news concerning the Islamic world's future. I have studied the history of the Turks and of Islam. Numerous heroes and champions o, owinm and patriots have emerged from among them. They performed enormous sacrifices in the way of serving their country and nation, and they rece twenthe rewards and recompense they deserved. They were all awarded the honours due to them. But for the last twenty or so years, Bediuzzaman, the Master, haese ruosed and published these works for this nation's happiness in this world and the next, suffering indescribable torments and ill-treatment, to prevent the spread of anti-religious currents, and toindex his house there is nothing, not even a lamp. He abandoned everything to serve religion and religion alone. Most certainly, the Islamic world will soon come to know this esteemed person and his works."

Yes, our Master is aa handn who is applauded and appreciated by an Islamic scholar and thinker like 'Ali Akbar Shah; and whose services are acknowledged by some of the Democrat deputies who say, " of rer students who read Bediuzzaman's Risale-i Nur>and receive instruction from it and publish it prevent the spread of communism in this country with their work. Seeing that our governautions opposed to communism, we are grateful to the Nurjus for their services." With all its thousands of words and sentences, every single copy of all the parts of the Risale-i Nur>testifies and points to our Master's seruth anand the universal benefits of his twenty-five years of composition and dissemination. He took as his way, instruction in impotence and poverty and he teaches it to his students. Thus, while this esteemed person whose universal servicee, theave briefly outlined above is most deserving of the respect, love, and praise of all the believers and he should be accepted as such, he has consistently avoidedcienceenuine respect and sincere applause of those coming to visit him, who reading the lessons of the Risale-i Nur>have seen its knowledge and proofs to be superior in its

in and fion in belief to other works this age. In numerous letters he has rejected their respect and praise for his person, saying: "I am your companion in receiving instruction from the Qur'an. These sacred truths hes anden bestowed on me firstly because I am the most needy for them and the most indigent. I hold no rank. I am not fond of myself, and I don't like those who like m servebrothers, I don't advertise my secret faults so as not to lose you altogether." He has made the dissemination of the truths of belief his sole aim in life. He has renounced all worldly advantages for i ulûmervice.

Even the most unscrupulous would refrain from making the accusations the so-called experts' committee levelled at our Master, whose what tenfe without exception testifies to the above facts. They even cited as evidence their suggestion that he was attempting to arrogate unwarranted power to himself by using the word "imparted (ihtar)">in the title "An Importanst as er Imparted to Me on the Night of Power" in the work, A Guide for Youth,>while completely disregarding the vital truth it was explaining. Whereas the comprehensiveness inferred by the word may be undall thd by reading and understanding that truth. The following is part of the piece:

"Because of the extreme tyranny and despotism of this last World War and its merciless destruction, and hundreds of innocents being scattered and ruined on al life of a single enemy, and the awesome despair of the defeated, and the fearsome alarm of the victors and their ghastly pangs of conscience arising from the supremacy they are unable to maintain and the destruction they areue juse to repair, and the utter transitoriness and ephemerality of the life of this world and the deceptive, opiate nature of the fantasies of civilization becoming apparent to all, and the exalted abilitiecal doed in human nature and the human essence being wounded in a universal and awesome manner, and man's innate love and desire for immortality being aroused and awakened, and heedlessness and misguidance and deaf, lifeless nature beingn may ed by the diamond sword of the Qur'an, and the exceedingly ugly, exceedingly cruel true face of world politics becoming apparent, which is the widest and most suffocating and deceptive cover for heedlessness and misguidancpower t certainly and without any shadow of a doubt, since the life of this world - which is the metaphorical beloved of mankind - is thus ugly and transient, man's true nature will search with all its strengted "aseternal life, which it truly loves and yearns for ... so long as humankind does not altogether lose its mind and a material or immaterial doomsday does not erupt over its head, the broad masses and great states in the worome asl search out the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, and having grasped its truths, will embrace it with all their lives and spirits, just as

#41Brothee are now famous preachers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and England working to have the Qur'an accepted, and the important community of America is searching for the true religion. In view of this fact, the Qur'an bys theyans has - nor can have - any equal. Absolutely nothing can take the place of this greatest miracle." {[*]: A Guide for Youth (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2012), 55-7.}

Respected judgey, yould the use of the word ihtar>at the head of this important piece, a short section of which we have included above, be an indictable offence? Could it have been used to secure personal influence? Or by showing that worshity has started to search out the Qur'an's truths, does it predict and prove that the Qur'an will prevail over humankind in the future? We refer this matter to your elevated judgement.

The Riy, so Nur's>author describes the purely true warnings he has received from the Qur'an's instruction, as proof of the veracity of the subjects he is explaining. Anyone who studies them attentively may see that they are pure truthave wrne may perceive how this Marvel who rejoices in the oceans of belief and treasuries of divine unity and wisdom will live triumphantly in the millions of hearts of forthcoming generatieans tnd will be applauded by them. He may discern that similarly to its thousand years of proud deeds, the Turkish nation will again embrace the truths of Islam in place of its heroic forefathers, who were an examor the all the world, and assuming the duties of standard-bearer of the Qur'an, dominate the lands of the future. To understand this most elevated and important truth, one has only to read s lettrmon Bediuzzaman delivered in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus forty years ago in 1327 (early 1911) to a congregation of ten thousand among which were one hundred religious scholars. He is at presenre, itslating the work into Turkish, for at that time when the Islamic world was wretched and captive, it gave the good news that in the future through the strength of Islam the virtues of civilization would prevail, although then ment hils predominated, and the sun of Islam would shine over whole nations and continents. It predicted this, and explained and proved it.

Since the so-called experts' committee were unable to penetn.

o the meaning of the sentence "a matter imparted to my heart" and misinterpreted it, and the matter is related to the truths concerning the Islamic worligiousture which are explained in The Damascus Sermon,>we present here to the court a translation of the work, including here only a few sentences from the end of the questions proved in the work:

In consequence or not lesson I have learnt on my own account, I say: O congregation of Muslims! I give you this good news: the first signs of the true dawn of Arab happiness are just appearing. This will occur through the kindan offf the worldly happiness of all Muslims, in particular that of the Ottomans, and especially through the progress of Islam. The emergence of the sun of happiness has drawn close. In order to rurs as air's nose in the dust, I say what is my firm conviction so that the world will hear: The future shall be Islam's and Islam's alone, and it Indeedbe ruled by the truths of the Qur'an and belief. Therefore, we must submit to divine determining and our fate of the present, for ours is a brilliant future, while the Europeans' is a dubious past. {[*]: The Damascus Sermon (Istanbul: especr Publications, 2012), 27-8.}

If we were to display through our actions the perfections of the morality of Islam and the truths of belief, without doubreatisfollowers of other religions would enter Islam in whole communities; some entire regions and states, even, would take refuge in Islam. {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 29.}

O my brothin the this Umayyad Mosque as well as those in the vast mosque of the world of Islam! You too take warning. Take warning from the dreadful eing usof the last forty-five years. Come to your senses right away! O you who are wise and thoughtful and consider yourselves to be enlightened! We Muslims, who are students of the Qur'an, follow proof; we approach the truths of belief through suppln, thought, and our hearts. We do not abandon proof in favour of blind obedience and imitation of the clergy like some adherents of other religions. Therefore, in the future when reason, science and technby somprevail, of a certainty that will be the time the Qur'an will gain ascendancy, which relies on rational proofs and invites the reason to confim pray pronouncements. {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 31-2.}

For sure, even if not now then in thirty to forty years' time, in order to fit out and equip to perfection the three forces of science, true knowledge, and the virtues of civilizief. I and to rout and put to flight those eight obstacles, the desire to search for the truth, equity, and love of humanity will be despatched to the eight fronts of those eight enemy squadrons. They he secuready started to drive them back. God willing, in half a century they will scatter them completely. {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 34.}

with supported by the fact that the clever fields of Europe and America have produced crops of brilliant and exacting scholars like Carlyle and Bismarck, I saen, on all assurance: Europe and America are pregnant with Islam; one day they will give birth to an Islamic state. Just as the Ottomans were pregnant with Europe and gave birth to ever wpean state. {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 35.}

Moreover, the veils that have eclipsed the sun of Islam, hindered its emergence and prevented it illuminating mankind have begun to disperse. achinathings that were hindering it have begun to fall back. The signs of the dawn appeared forty-five years ago. Then the true dawn broke in 1371/1951, or it will break. Even if it is le, I lse dawn, in thirty or forty years' time the true dawn will break. {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 32.}

O my brothers who are here in the Umayyad Mosque and those who are in the mosque of the worlent toslam half a century later! Do the introductory remarks, that is, those made up to here, not point to the conclusion that it is Islam that will be the true, and spiritual, ruler overmit souture, and only Islam that will lead mankind to happiness in this world and the next; and that true Christianity, stripping off superstition and corrupted belief, will be trare wased into Islam; following the Qur'an, it will unite with Islam? {[*]: Damascus Sermon, 35-6.}

Respected panel of judges! The most decisive, legal reply to all the slanders and accusati Savioainst the Risale-i Nur's>author is the fact that three courts of law and three experts' committees have returned his works after scrutinizing thes in tMoreover, although our Master's twenty-seven years of exile and the one hundred and thirty treatises of his works and his letters have all been studied by three courts and by government officials, and although those officialsmost tforced to convict him by the tryannical apostates and dissemblers opposing him, and secret orders had even been given for his execution, they could find not even the slightest sign that he had exploited religion ed of litical ends, which proves categorically that he has not done so. We Nur students who know him closely are astonished at this extraordinary stance of his an is unider it to be evidence of the true sincerity of the Risale-i Nur>circle.

We await from justice and your consciences that with your just decisg this13

you will overturn the plans of the covert, cruel enemies who are opposed to his services to this country and nation's happiness, and seek to destroy him with slanders, and that you will throw back in their faces the falt, sinusations of the calumniators. And we offer you our respects.

As cutorstten at the beginning of A Guide for Youth,>fifteen years ago a few youths visited me so that they might learn how to preserve their lives in this world and thteoust. So, for God's sake, I gave them instruction in the lesson from the Guide.

The importance of A Guide for Youth>and there being no legal impediments to its free publication are proven by the following fve or with the exception of one or footnotes, its being acquitted by both the Isparta authorities, and Denizli Court, and Ankara Criminal Court, and the Appeal Court after having remained with it for two years, and the entirs:

le-i Nur Collection,>including the Guide,>being returned to its owners; and as is written at the beginning of the Guide,>with one copy of it coming into the hands of the Ankara police chief, aly that objections were raised about a single word, the truth of the matter being understood when the sentence at the end was read so no ruling was given preventing its free dissemination; and no harm being suffhould nywhere nor objections raised although thousands of copies have been published; and in the town of Tarsus in Mersin Province, even, although several books from the Risale-i Nur>were confiscated including A Guide for Youth>and sying t Ankara for scrutiny, an official document being given on the orders of the governor's office saying the books were free; and when they were printed in Istanbul and in aanbul nce with the law sent to five or six government departments where they remained for five or six months, no objections being raised to them.

Then more than a tho had byouths in the schools in Ankara and other provinces profited from it in respect of country, nation, and morality, and no one at all suffered any harm. Yet suddenly, they misinterpreted one or twole to that in no way could be deemed reprehensible, for instance, they laid charges concerning the title A Guide for Youth.

On the other hand, the work's author did not print it; some youths had it printed when he was lying sick in bed.le, sonevertheless said it was written to secure personal influence and declared this an offence, and wanted to send him, not those who printed the work, to the criminal court and have him brought there by forings lthough it was written fifteen years ago and was covered by the general amnesty and had been acquitted. This being the case, they harass its author completely ilsideray and as a consequence of some grudge or animosity.

So I say that very possibly the reason they so insistently summon me to court when I am ill and it is beyond my power, in a way that is illegal in ten respects, is toood of anarchy and irreligion because the Guide>affords huge benefits for the country, nation, and public security.

To now bring me by force to Istanbulmount e court, maliciously on account of illegality in the name of the law, although most certainly medically and scientifically my extreme old age,ir

My request now from the Public Health Committee: I am who know me and are closely connected with me and serve me know that my covert enemies have poisoned me on numerous occasions. I am unable to eat and cannot speak with my assistant even for more than five minutes. I have aht we stent and severe cold in my head, and my eyes ache from it and water. I suffer from chronic lumbago and am ill from its acute pain. I am also extremely weak since rs, Ah remained in exile for twenty-eight years and do not accept the assistance of others and have lived in penury and deprivation. Unless there is no pressing need, I cannifesteak for five minutes even; I get tired.

Previously I endured the trials and court cases for the sake of the Risale-i Nur>and the Nur students, and did not divulge the truth entirely. I endured their oppression to an extent and did not throty year injustices in their faces. I practised patience so that no harm should come to the innocent and to public order, and I put up with all their various existts and persecution. But now the world of Islam has adopted the Risale-i Nur.>And the Nur students no longer need my tolerance and my not attacking my enemies

and myf the ning silent in the face of their oppression. So now when I am severely provoked, involuntarily and outside my will I am going to speak the truth fraot be nd openly to those who strive to punish me, utilizing the harms my covert enemies have caused me. (Silence ... this is not going to be disclosed for now.)

Since the fact of the matter is this, and since the Public Healos aremittee has knowledge of both my physical, spiritual, and nervous indispositions, and my coronary illness and sicknesses in my head, and my lumbago and pain, and mthe

#3ility to speak in court, and since my official representatives are there, and those who printed the work are there, I request that a report be given describing medically my dangerous illnessesey areat my evidence may be given in absentia.

My Esteemed, Blessed, Kind Master!

I am sending this letter with my brother Karakoçanlı Haji Sabri, who has connections with was insale-i Nur>and was one of my companions during the Hajj.

Firstly:>I kiss your blessed hands and request that you include this powerless, faulty brother and student of ys own n your acceptable prayers.

Secondly:>I request that you also include your brother Haji Sabri and the rest of the new devotees in your prayers.

Thirdly:>Praise be to God, I am apprised of the situation sincty is rother Husrev continues to send the letters of both your esteemed self and his other brothers, as you have ordered.

Fourthly:>I have given the Qurks sent by both my brother Husrev and Ceylan to the brothers, and I have sent them the money. I asked Urfa for a few more. Haji Sabri bought one set of them.

Fifthly:>We beseech divine grace thata Hadiood news relayed by the President of the Republic's speech will be realized.

Sixthly:>All praise be to God, we continue to be employed in the dissemination of the Rincipli Nur>and in its conquests, in so far as our Compassionate and Munificent Lord permits.

Every evening, instruction from the Risale-i Nur>continues for the people from the enlightened Nur community who come to commenuse.

During my trip to Malatya I explained the method of service to the people

there who are attached to the Risale-i Nur,>When the adherents of Büyük Doğu>{[*]: Büyük Doğu was a religious journal with literary and political leanings matte started publication in 1943 and continued, with various closures, until 1978. [Tr.]} proposed that I join them, I asked them whether or not their association was poliwn def When they replied in the affirmative, I said the following: "With the help of the Risale-i Nur,>I can only try to solve any problems you may have concerning questions They ief and the Qur'an, or to elucidate them. I am employed within the domain of the Risale-i Nur>outside my own will and consciousness. That is my way. We are in agreement concerning the matters of belief and the Qur'an, but I cannot becomsible lved in politics." There are some members of their group who take an interest in the Risale-i Nur.>So I requested that we should work together, and thaMercif should read the works, ask about the places they do not understand, and try to learn the Qur'anic script. With my poor writings, I encourage the people in Malatya, Urfa, and Antep to get hold of the works and increase their conthe Noith it. My present work with the Risale-i Nur>is thus.

Endless praise and thanks be to Almighty God that despite my countless faults, He deemeded Afyrthy to be employed in this service of the Qur'an and belief. For sure, through the blessings proceeding from the prayers of our blessed, compassionate Master, I continue to be an impotent member of the Nur community, and in consequenongfull be one of those who gather under the banner of the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace).

Again and again I respectfully kiss your blessed hands and offer my greetings, pranger.

and respects to my brothers. I send my respects too to all the friends in your vicinity, who are near physically and spiritually. I constantly beseech our Lord, the Most Merciful of the Merciful, that He should be perpetually pleasee cert our esteemed, revered, and kind Master, and that all his wishes be achieved.

My Most Beloved, Compassionate Master!

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my life and spirit on both the blessed Ten Nights and the holy festival, {[*]: The first o suchghts of the month Dhu'l-Hijja, the month of the Hajj and twelfth month of the Hijri calendar. The Tenth day of Dhu'l-Hijja marks the first day of the 'Eid al-Adha, the Fesr. Godof Sacrifices.} and respectfully kissing your hands, implore that you forgive my faults.

Secondly:>I offer endless thanks to the Most ng mayul of the Merciful that He has bestowed on this sinful, common, powerless, faulty, unworthy, wretched, and lazy student of yours the sacred truths of belief and the Qur'an found i a cloRisale-i Nur,>and the material and spiritual training of our beloved Master, All praise be to God, this is from the grace of my Lord!

My beloved Master! However much I offer thanks to my Compassionate Lord for continually makour co aware of the effects of your spiritual training, it is insufficient. I would like to say the following, to make known the bounty: I do not complain about my ire aft for it was the cause of learning in fact and in practice the truths of the Risale-i Nur,>which is the light of my eye, the joy of my spirit, and sustenance of my he

Thirdly:>I send greetings to every one of our worthy friends who are

thightend are in the service of our beloved Master, and I congratulate them on the festival. I kiss our beloved Master's hands, and the eyes of our brothers.

In His Name, be He glorified!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Someone wrote me a long letter in the new letters, but did not say who he was. He was doubtful about thriticaints and had given them a wrong meaning, which inferred criticism, so was as though alerting us to them. Since according to our way we do not engage in dispute and argument, and since we are gratefurilliohose who correctly point out our faults, I wanted to explain the truth concerning those three points and correct his error.

First Principle:>On the wishes Afyonme of the students, a number of Qur'anic verses which are the Risale-i Nur's>master and source and for a long time past have been an invocation of Said were writteproducand put together in the form of a hizb.>{[*]: Hizb: portion of the Qur'an. Also, a collection of verses for invocatory purposes. [Tr.]} It was later printed, and neither the scholars of the ex the p committees appointed by four or five courts, nor the committees of the Directorate of Religious Affairs and of the Istanbul fatwa>office which scrutinize religious publications, nor any religious scholar haat it ected to it. They rather approved of it and applauded it. For foremost the Prophet's (UWBP) Companions and Usama, {[*]: Usâma ibn Zayd ibn Hârisa (d. ca. AH 54). See page 421 below.} who ids Colioned in Majmû'ât al-Ahzâb,>{[*]: Majmû'ât al-Ahzâb: the three-volume collection of invocations and supplications of figures associated with Sufism, compiled by the scholar and Naq left,âlidî shaykh, Ahmed Ziyaeddin Gümüshânevî (1813-1893), and published in Istanbul 1311/1893. [Tr.]} had collections of Qur'anic verses (hizb)>of wtly hahey read a portion every day. In the same book and in the same volume of Majmû'ât al-Ahzâb>is a hizb>of Imam al-Ghazali, and as is well-known, num save saints (ehl-i velâyet)>collated their own hizbs>of suras and verses, suitable to their ways and outlooks.

Some of the Nur champions like the late Hâfız Ali, who died as a martyr ten yeaof con, wanted to collect together my personal invocations and the main verses that were the Risale-i Nur's>masters and sources. I subsequently ervicehem to them and they had them printed. For not everyone can always find the time to read the whole Qur'an, but if they can get hold of such a Qur'anic collection (hizb),>they can profit from it at any timelation this idea, verses and suras were included in it that yield the greatest merits. In fact, one of the Qur'an's miracles is that all the people of reality and of perfection who havl magnr own ways, can find in the Qur'an a Qur'an and a collection of verses and a master which is apposite for their ways. It is as though there are thousands The cl'ans in the single Qur'an.

The inner meaning of the above miracle is this: the All-Wise Qur'an's verses and phrases have relationships not y-eighith those contiguous with them but with numerous other verses, phrases, and words. This profound matter has been demonstrated to an extent in the commentary Ishârât al-I'jâz (Signs of Miraculousness),>which is par been he Risale-i Nur.>That is to say, the Qur'an does not resemble other speech; every one of its verses has a face and an eye that looks to thousands of other verses.

This characterd so tof the Qur'an is the basis of numerous truths. Some of the followers of the Sufi paths and the people of reality have had their own particular hizbs>from within the universal Qur'an. The Qur'anic hizb>of the Risale-i Nur>is one such colle mean. The late Hâfız Ali, who was one of the saints, wanted to print it without delay so as to disseminate it. For there was a sort of miracle of the Qur'an in th Denizcidences (tevâfuk)>disclosed by the Risale-i Nur>in a handwritten Qur'an, so they printed this hizb>preliminary to printing that Qur'an, giving the good news of it. Yes, for the past fifteen years we have been trying to print our Qur'a remaich was written by Husrev and is quite wondrous and miraculous with respect to the coincidences. But since most of the Nurjus are not wealthy and twenty-five thousand liras>were needed to prey are photographically, our Qur'anic hizb>was printed first as a precursor, bearing the glad tidings of our miraculous Qur'an. The Directorate of Religious Affairs examial Cou and very much approved of it. And the scholars who scrutinize written Qur'ans in the fatwa>office in Istanbul considered it to be very fine, and studying it with due attention returned iose ths with the necessary corrections. God willing, it will soon be printed and will be published throughout the world of Islam as the gift of the Risale-i Nur.

The Second Matter>about whola's at anonymous person entertained doubts:

A hundred times I have rejected the praiseworthy attributes which, far

exceeding my due and owing to their inordinately good opinions of me, many Nurjus imagine in me, and I legallffended them. But because for twenty-eight years the politicians have considered the Risale-i Nur's>way, which pertains only to belief and ts,

The Third Doubt>of that person who neglected to make himself known everys published by Büyük Cihad>{[*]: Büyük Cihad was an Islamist paper published in Samsun, 1951-1953. [Tr.]} and Sebilürreşad,>{[*]: Sebilürreşad: the journal founded by Eşref Edip (1882-1971) f more.ng the Constitutional Revolution of July 1908, initially under the name of Sırat-ı Müstakîm. Sebilürreşad resumed publication in 1948 after 23 years of closure, Eşref Edip published several articles about Bediu infin. He also published several books about him in the 1950s and 1960s. [Tr.]} I stated that I have not exploited the services we have performed for religion Marchelief and the Risale-i Nur>for world politics, or even for elevated spiritual ranks and attainments, or making it a means of winning eternal happiness and being saved from H- evenhich everyone deems licit. I was compelled at this time to make it a tool of nothing save the seeking of divine pleasure and complying with the divine command, so that we might preserve the ethat m of true sincerity, which is the Risale-i Nur's>true strength. As Abu Bakr, the supremely veracious one (May God be pleased with him), said: "I Marchch

Almighty God that my body so expands in Hell that no room will remain for the believers and that it suffers torments in their place!" So that I myself might attain an atom's worth of his holy self-sacrifice, I said that I woulss thoe to Hell to save, through belief, a handful of people from its fire. In any event, worship may not be performed to enter heaven or be saved from Hell; to do so invalidates it. It may only be performed as compliance with the divine comon, annd to seek divine pleasure.

To return to discussion of our collection of Qur'anic verses:

Usama (May God be pleased with him), one of the Most Noble Prophet's (fice whom be blessings and peace) leading commanders, compiled a collection of verses from various of the Qur'an's suras, and one day recited those about praise of God (hamd)gh I aday those about seeking forgiveness, one day those about glorification of God, one day those about reliance on God, one day those about greetings of peaceive evday those about the affirmation of divine unity, one day those about the phrase: "There is no god but God," and one day about the word Lord and Sustainer (Rabb).>He made this an invocation for himself. Thce my to say, the Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave his sanction to such collections (hizb).

Furthermore, since this hizb>of ours has its pollated of verses about the truths of belief and particularly of verses from the beginnings of suras, "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" i woke ten at its head. The collection fires enthusiasm to read the whole Qur'an; it does not diminish it. Also, since some of the desired verses about belief mradesould be recited only in twenty days, may be read in this collection in one or two days, I took some of those verses as an invocation for myself together with other verses from the beginnings of some of the suras, and theyliberasubsequently assumed the form of a hizb.

That anonymous person imagined to be egotism my defending the dignity of learning against ss of Srogant little egotists. He fancied that my being unable to completely destroy the Nur students' good opinion of me to be self-conceit. And because, with the idea of securing the confideâsha'l the students in my expositions of the truths of belief, I felt compelled to disclose the nearly one thousand signs and indications of the saints and of a number of verses, he supposed my explaining a ph they these to my closest brother to be a form of self-advertisement.

Yes, it is a great crime and treachery at this time in our defensive position to display modesty and humility in the face of those whose eg elder as swollen as the pharaoh's and who attack belief and the Risale-i Nur>on

account of irreligion. Such modesty would be shameful abasement. Could it in any way indubf-advertisement to display in the face of them heroic fortitude and moral strength in order to preserve religious pride and the honour of learning? Could it be fame-see whichr love of self, so that person imagined it to be thus? Also, of those who need the Risale-i Nur>and seek it in order to strengthen their belief and to save it, three or four out of ten look not to my person but sufon triith the decisive proofs of the Risale-i Nur,>and five or six look to me because they do not know the value of those proofs. So is it egotism if I draw a veil over my hidden faults and do not destroy their good opinion ofim, tho as to prevent them from wondering whether or not I am deceiving them or saying what is true?

In accordance with the verse, "Nor do I absolve my own self [of blame]: the [human] soul is certainly prone to evil" perso:53), I do not trust my evil-commanding soul. The soul is always faulty. But in my defence, at this time when secret atheistic societies like dragons and demons are on the attack, to dwell on the faultsre tauent in me that have the importance of a fly's wing means assisting in their destructive assaults. It also means depriving five or six out of ten needy people of the remedies of the Risale-i Nur.>Relaid Nuot on my own strength and virtues in this matter, but solely on the truth of the Qur'an and on the truths of belief which expound it, I proclaim to the whole world that were all irreligious people to gather together, I would not shrink ba.

"m them but would challenge them. I would not bow before them, nor violate the honour of learning. Even if this was egotism, it would in no way pertain to me; it would not be egotism. It would be firm stre Even,f belief. Just as I deny nature in respect of creative power, and the Risale-i Nur>has proved this decisively; so I deny the holding of power that drives men to pase haegotism, and arrogance. Human beings possess only an insignificant acquisition (kesb)>due to genuine need, which is a sort of active prayer and sort of acceptable supplication. Almighty God accepts this.nkly aHe bestows the wonders called discoveries which are necessary for humanity has been proved by the scholars of the science of the principles of religion in their discussions of divine determining and human choice (kader ve cüz'-i ihtiyarî)the Allarly, because I have become absolutely certain through the effulgence of the Qur'an and proofs of the Risale-i Nur>that the sense of self and sale-iin firstly myself and then in others is only a veil for divine creativity, bestowal, and assistance, I have proclaimed to my brothers and the Risale-i Nur>that I was mere thingeed; I rotted, and in consequence of powerlessness, need, sincere seeking, and active prayer, the Most Merciful of the Merciful created

the Risale-i Nur>from that seed, and bestowed it. All the section the Phe Letters>of the Risale-i Nur>describing the reasons for praise pertain to that illuminating tree. My share in it could in no way be pride; it could be thanks and thanks alonment i All thanks be to God! All praise be to God to the number of beings in existence!

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace beounts you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Owing to numerous signs and a number of incidef the is now certain that the enemies of the Risale-i Nur>and of the Nur students have devised numerous plans in order to induce the some of the select students to give up their serviceft ande Risale-i Nur>or to weaken their resolve by discovering some of their weak veins of character, We shall describe one or two of them as a warning les the v First Example: So as to turn the attention and thought of a few of our select brothers who are unshakeably attached to the Risale-i cere f another direction, or to occupy them with a pleasurable, spiritual way and impair their devotion to their duties in serving belief, some people are preoccupying these brothers with phenomena like ce wilicating with the dead and with jinns, which is known as spiritualism, and even conversing with the great saints and even prophets, which formerly was the realm of the soothsayers (kâhin),>who are now known as mediums.

This phenomenon proca fronrom philosophy and from Europe, and can be extremely harmful to the believers. It is open to exploitation of many sorts, and if it contains one truth, tt with mixed with ten falsehoods. For since there is no touchstone, no criterion, to differentiate between truth and falsehood, the jinns which assist evil spirits and Sata to itpossibly cause harm both to the hearts of those who busy themselves with it, and to Islam. For there are disclosures which they call spiritual matters bon's cch are contrary to the truths of Islam and general beliefs. Evil spirits present themselves as good spirits or even as great saints and may attempt to cause harm to the basic principles of Islam by saying things opposed to them. They ffectiist the truth and deceive ingenuous people completely.

For instance, the sun appears in a fragment of glass with its light, heat, and shape. But if the tiny image of the sun in the fragment were to spes to t say: "My light floods the whole world, my heat warms everything!' And if it were to say that it was a million times larger than the globe of the earth, it would be unovert od just how contrary to the trۨأ it was. In exactly the same way, while a prophet resides in his true station which is like the sun, the appearance of a manifestation of it that accords with the fragment-li of anacity of a spiritualist or medium cannot speak in the name of that reality. If he does, it would be contrary to it a hundred times over. The insignificant manifestation reflected in spiritualism or mediumship can in no way bof ameared with the sacred nature of the non-material Sun that is the recipient of revelation. For a fragment of glass at the lowest of the low cannot be brought side by side with the realy. The that non-material sun at the highest of the high, To attempt to do so is utter disrespect. Only, drawing close to the station of prophethood by progressing through spiritual journeying,parentof the saints like Jalal al-Dîn al-Suyuti {[*]: Jalâl al-Dîn al-Suyûtî (d. 911/1505). Reputedly the most prolific author, on a great variety of subjects, in Islamic history. He claimed to have seen the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) more thooks ienty times when awake. See, al-Sha'rânî, al-Tabaqât al-Sughrâ (Cairo, 1970), 29.) [Tr.]} were graced with the Sun's conversation. But as is proved in the Risale-i Nur,>such progress, a sort of conversation through the sa two pd of the Prophet (UWBP), occurs in accordance with the saints' degrees and their capacities.

The reality of prophethood is far higher than sainthood; the l's wrications and conversation experienced by means of spiritualism or spiritual advancement, can in no way approach communication with true prophets and so cannot be a basis of new rulings of the Shari'a.

The calling up of spirits does not despirom religion but from the sensitivity of philosophy, and is an action that is opposed both to truth, and to good conduct. It is a grievous insult and lack of respect to attractlmight at sacred stations at the highest of the high to the Ouija boards, the seat of lies, at the lowest of the low. It is just like summoning the king to a hovel. What is pure truth, decency, respect, and bed triuis such persons as Jalal al-Dîn al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Dîn Rumi, {[*]: Mawlânâ Jalâl al-Dîn al-Rûmî ibn Bahâ' al-Dîn Walad (d. 672/1273). Author of the famous didactic poetical work, the Mathnawî-i Ma'nawî, known in Turkish as the Mesnecould d founder of the Mevlevi Order. [Tr.]} and Imam Rabbani {[*]: Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindî (d. 1034/1624) was born in Sirhind in India is popularly known as Imam Rabbani and also as the Regeneratne I hthe Second Millennium (Mujaddid-i Alf-i Thânî). He purified Islam of heterodox accretions and was founder of the Mujaddidî branch of the Naqshbandî Order. [Tr.]} rising through

their spiritual journeyings like the journeyings of spirifor thgs, and their drawing close to those holy prophets and profiting from them.

Evil spirits and Satan cannot assume the form of prophets in true dreams. But when spis, Masre called up, evil spirits may say that they are prophets and may speak in a way that is contrary to the Prophet's (UWBP) Sunna and the Sh, and s injunctions. If what they say is contrary to them, it is clear evidence that the ones speaking are not good spirits. They are not believing and Muslim jinns; they are evil spirits, and imitate them in this

ower aondly:>The Nur students are not now in need of instruction in such matters. The Risale-i Nur>explains the truth about everything and leaves no need for other exsmash ons. The Risale-i Nur>is enough for them. It is, however, imperative that people other than the Nur students do not heed the suggestions in those communications that are contrary to the Shari'a mercy,ophet's (UWBP) Sunna. For to do so may lead to serious errors.

A Warning:>The fierce warnings in this letter against communicating with spirits, are against an approach that purports to be spiritual, and has appeared fres Hâf West, and from philosophy, spiritualism, and mesmerism. The criticism is not of the Sufism of a very few Sufis which proceeds from Islam and tasawwuf>and other followers of the Sufi path, and retion, s somewhat the communication with spirits, and has been exploited to some extent with the interference of the outsiders. It is true that they can harm others in some ways, but they do not deceive like the others and theye prevur no intentions of harming Islam. As for that approach of foreign provenance, it is opposed to both Islam and the Sufi paths, and it attempts to obstruct the wag the he Sufis mentioned here, and devalue it, Those Sufis who are weak and do not adhere to the Sunna should be careful not to allow themselves to resemble them.

In His Name, be He glorified!

I request that you listen to this very brief statement abhe appe very lengthy story of my life of persecution. The following are the reasons they have given for the last twenty-eight years of unprecedented ill-treatment, surveillance, and imprisonmefeat d The First:>They accuse me of being opposed to the regime. We say in reply:

Every government has opponents. On condition they do not disturb public order or infringe security, no one is answerable for an So, or way of conducting themselves which they believe in with their hearts and consciences. For although the more than one hundred million Muslims who were under the rule of the English and their tyrannical, religi:41) ibigoted government for a hundred years, rejected their infidel regime due to the Qur'an and did not accept it, up to the present the English courts have not bothered themoitingat respect. And although the Jews and Christians who since early times have had a place among our nation and in its governments, and have been opposed to its religion and sacred regimes, and have the peontrary, critical views, at no time have the courts of law interfered with them in any way. Furthermore, during his own caliphate, 'Umar (May God be pleased with him) was tried by a court ts in er with a common Christian. The fact that the Christian's [religious] views were not taken into consideration by the court despite his being opposed to both the Muslims' sacred regime, and their rtify bn, and their laws, shows that a court of law cannot be partisan, but has to be unbiased. For the vicegerent of the earth was tried together with a common infidel.

Thus, relying on hundreds of verses of the Quth regnot only myself but all people of conscience are opposed to a temporary regime that has replaced the Qur'an's sacred laws, and on account of the anarchy of corrupt civilization and behind the screen of the liberties of the Republic iice ofbsolute despotism, and may be used as a tool to tyrannize religious people. Moreover, opposition to any government can never be deemed a crime.

The Second:>They have inflicted punishments on me for thiring ofrs on the pretext of the possibility of disturbing the peace and breaching security. I say this in reply:

Although according to the investigations of the court there are both five

hundred thousand devoted Nur students, and for twentny inst years we have been subjected to this cruel ill-treatment, the six provinces and six courts of law that have been concerned with the Nurjus have been unable to record any incident reviouing them. This proves that the Nurjus are the protectors of public security. Through their instruction in belief, they instil a prohibitor in everyone's he0/767) preserve public order. The fair-minded police of three provinces have affirmed this.

The Third:>They have declared me guilty saying, He wants to exploit religion for political ends. d theisive reply to this is my article entitled, "It is Only the Truth that Speaks," in the one hundred and sixteenth issue of Sebilürreşad. A summary of it is and Plows:

The Answer: Those who accuse of exploiting religion for politics a person who is over eighty years of age and at the door of the grave, and whose whole life testifies that he is ready rsi

If one innoc ... n is found in a house or on a ship together with ten criminals, the justice of the Qur'an forbids the burning down of the house or sinking of the ship lest harm comes to the innocenrpose To burn or sink them in order to destroy one criminal when they hold nine innocent people is therefore a grievous wrong, cruelty, and perfidy. In consequence, since divine justice and the tr speak the Qur'an severely forbids harming or placing in danger by disturbing public order and security, ninety innocent people due to ten criminals, owing to that lesson of the Qur'an we consider ourselves compn of treligiously to preserve public order with all our strength.

There is no doubt that our covert enemies who accuse us of these three or fple totters and preoccupy the courts with us unnecessarily, want either to exploit politics for irreligion or under the veil of communism, either knowingly or unknowingly, over!ablish anarchy in this blessed country. For any Muslim who leaves the fold of Islam becomes an apostate and anarchist, and spreads poison in the life of society. For anarchy recognizes no rights and transforms human nature into that of ari'a' animals. The Qur'an alludes to the fact that the secret society of Gog and Magog, which will appear at the end of time, will be composed of anarchists.

In His on th be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Our mira, an u, gilded Qur'an, which was written in such a way as to show at this time the miraculousness in the ordering of the letters, has been sent first of all to Germany to be printed. Efforts were made to havizatiorinted in Istanbul, but this was abandoned due to such obstacles as the expense of printing in three colours. One section of it has been sent to Ie a ras a sample, since printing techniques there are highly developed. Attempts have again been made for its printing in Istanbul, and for now steps are hem antaken to have it printed in a single colour while preserving the concidences (tevâfuk).>Later, God willing, it will be printed in three colours and with full gilding in either Egypt, Germanyas foltaly.

Secondly:>To be duplicated are an Arabic Qur'anic commentary (Ishârât al-I'jâz)>and a collection, the Arabic Mathnawî>of the Risale-i Nur,>which is the size of Zülfikar>anas an rves to be written in gold, God willing. These works, which were written forty years ago and are quite wonderful and of the greatest importance, and every discussion of which is the equivalent of a book or treatise, were approvedPreserd applauded by the leading shaykhs and ulema of the time. Speaking of just one of the treatises, they indicated its unprecedented worth and their powerlessness to comprehend it,send tg: "This not a mere droplet (Katre)>but an ocean!" We herewith give the glad tidings of these tasks of the Risale-i Nur,>and await your prayers for their success. We send our greetings to all of you and wish you every success.

[This letter was published in the newspaper Büyük Cihad, in Samsun. It was the cause World rt proceedings being opened there, incited by calumniators. The court case resulted in acquittals.]

Our Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, thehas heur of the World of Islam, Chief of the Believers, and Interpreter of the Risale-i Nur!

The fact that, on the indication of the religious Democrats, Afyon Court has given the decision for the Risale-i Nur's>liberty and the reture kilall its treatises, letters, and collections since they contain nothing reprehensible, is clear proof of the truth you proclaimed years ago. You said: "The Risale-i Nur>belongs ne A Gume but to the Qur'an and proceeds from its effulgence. No force will be able to tear it from the heart of Anatolia. The Risale-i Nur>is bound to the Qur'an and the Qur'an is bound to the Supreme Throne. Has anyone the power to uproore yesnd tear it away from there?" Knowing this to be shining evidence that this elevated service of yours is in the way of God and the Qur'an, andten bythe decision for its acquittal marks the dawn of happiness for the world of Islam and particularly of this Islamic nation, we offer our congratulations to compoloved Master, who expectantly awaits such victories, and is the head of the Nur family, has been appointed captain of the seas of truth and guide of humanity revolting in the darkness of disbelief. e, andgratulate too the religious Democrats who in this way have won the love and support of the believers, and also the just panel of judges and offer them our endless thankoreoveToday, the Qur'anic truth which for years you have striven selflessly to advance and uphold is unfolding vastly and filling the hearts of the believers throughout the c the D with joy. This proves as clearly as the sun just how elevated and brilliant are the sacred cause and work which you have been appointed to strive for and which you have sucessfully accomplished,

Nldermestanding the difficulties and obstacles of the last twenty-five to thirty years, all your patience and fortitude, and labours and exertions in publishing the Risale-i Nur,>which occurredic natur illumined heart from the Qur'an, furnish a fine example for the heroic mujâhids>of Islam. Dispelling the darkness of ignorance and misguidance with the Rays of the inextinguishable Lights of the sun of the Qur'an aVan. Hir everlasting Flashes, you have illumined millions of hearts and made the believers grateful to you. This country and nation, this history and land, will never forget this son whi of yours, this devoted self-sacrifice. If you travel to the eternal realm, your service will form a seed from which will sprout a lofty tree which will encompassto thewhere. The large communities which will

gather around that tree of light and the rising everlasting rays of the Risale-i Nur>will perpetuate atulatork in even more brilliant and magnificent form.

As the Risale-i Nur's>interpreter, with the services you have performed for belief shining on the horizons of Islam, you arhe clechief guide of the present age!

Esteemed herald of the Noble Qur'an in the fourteenth Muhammadan (UWBP) century! Supreme devotee who has resis the with the Qur'an's light in the face of the awesome darkness of this ghastly age! Our beloved heroic Master, who has published everywhere with the pens of his hundreds of thousands of studentsame. Iundreds of thousands of copies of the Risale-i Nur>and has erected a Qur'anic barrier against irreligion and absolute disbelief!

With this sacred service of yours, which is a mercy for allOld Saorlds and brings solace and deliverance to humanity, you give the good news to the believers of the great festival of Islam's supremacy which will embrace all the continents and the signs of which are just appearing. We congr me, se you on this with all our spirits, and beseech Almighty God for your long life, and kiss your hands respectfully.

There are now four parties in this country: one is the People's Party (Halk Partisi),>another the Democrat (Demokrat Partisi),>another the Nation (M its sPartisi),>and the other Islamic Unity (İttihad-ı İslam Partisi).>In the event of sixty or seventy per cent of the people being completely religious, the Islamic Unity Party may s me o a leading role in present politics. But due to the deficient Islamic training of recent times the latter party would have to exploit religionwhile olitics in the face of the malpractices of present politics, and should therefore not assume such a role.

As for the People's Party,>since behind the screen of the law it has in tart ofiven extraordinary, pleasurable, and widespread bribes to officials, and since together with all its own crimes of twenty-eight years the crimes of others and the evils of the Unionists (İttihadçılar)>and their Masonic

members have beligioaded on it, they appear to predominate over the Democrats in some ways. For egotism is strengthened by the lack of worship and the numbers of little Nimrods increase. Despite in reality officialdom bgle inervice, with such domination, mastery, and little dictatorships, it has given certain officials powerful positions as bribes. From this and from the treatment meted out to me and from newspaper reports and all their cr them I perceived that they are prevailing over the Democrats in a sort of way. Whereas, a fundamental law of Islam is the Hadith, "The ruler of a people of the servant," {[*]: al-Maghribî, Jâmi' al-Shaml, i, 450, no. 1668; al-'Ajlûnî, Kashf al-Khafâ', ii, 463. [Tr.]} according to which, the task of officialdom is not to act as ruler or chief, but to sarticuhe nation. Democracy and freedom of conscience may be based on this law of Islam, for if power does not reside in the law, it passes to individual persons and despotism becomes absolute and arbitrf civi As for the Nation Party,>if it is Islamic nationhood, the basis of Islamic Unity, in which Turkism has been dissolved, it is the equivalent of the Democrats and should join them. Racism and racial prejudice, which we calquite pe's disease, was inculcated in us by Europe in order to split up the Islamic world. But this sick idea produces a state of mind which people find gratifying and enthralling, so every naom thembraces it enthusiastically to a greater or lesser extent, despite its many harms and dangers.

If the Nation Party was to win a majority and gain power, due to deficient Islamic training and the predominance of secular education (terbut of medeniye),>the true Turks, who comprising only thirty per cent of the population do not form a majority, and the other elements, who form seventy per cent, would be obliged to take up ordingt against Islamic rule. For another fundamental law of Islam is the verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6: 164), no one is answerable or may be punished due to anothered by s. Whereas, due to the vein of racialism, a person supposes he has the right to kill an innocent brother because of another man's crime,ody">(ven his relatives and the members of his tribe. In such cases, there is no true justice and it opens up the way to extreme injustice. For the dictum "the rights ofore brnocent person may not be sacrificed for even a hundred guilty people" is a fundamental law of Islam. This is a matter of the greatest importance for this country. It also prech ensa serious danger to Islamic rule.

Since the truth is this, O religious Democrats and Democrats who are respectful towards Islam! In the face of the powerful, pleasuraed natttractive

supports of these two parties, you are obliged to take the truths of Islam as the basis of your support, for they are even moeft hea drawing force, both materially and spiritually. Or there is the possibility that the crimes committed down the years which you did not commit will be loaded on you as they were on the former party, and the membershouldhe People's Party will adopt racism and defeat you completely. I felt this and am worried for Islam.

Postscript:>In my view, the following is the only way the religious Democrats may be saved from having inflicted on them the serious penal the which were dealt out following the Ticânî>incidents. {[*]: A group affiliated with the Tijaniyya Order (T. Ticani) which in the early 1950s attacked the many busts and sta for if Atatürk in and around Ankara. Accusing the Democrat government of condoning reactionism, the opposition Republican People's Party expus ene the question as a means of pressurizing the government. [Tr.]} For those incidents resulted from the unnecessary, arbitrary laws of the former party and their exploi and t, and even due to its incitements. In this way they may also be saved from losing face in the view of the Islamic world:

Just as the Democrats' power was incectora tenfold by restoring the Arabic call to prayer, so it would be increased by returning Aya Sophia to its position of five hundred years. The religious Democrats should therefore announce officially the Risale-i Nur's>freedom, fKonya has made a very favourable impression in the Islamic world as well as winning the Islamic world's regard for the people of this country, you aothing harmful has been found in it by courts of law over twenty years and five courts have ruled for its acquittal. They should apply a salve to thi the Md, They would then both win the good opinion of the Islamic world, and the tyrannical faults of others would not be ascribed to them.

For the sake of the religious Democulousand particularly persons like Adnan Menderes, {[*]: Adnan Menderes (1899-1961); politician and statesman, and founder member of the Democrat Party. He was Prime Minister ensibi960, and unjustly executed (17 September 1961) following the May 1960 military coup. [Tr.]} I have dwelt on politics for one or two days, although I have given them up for the past thirty-five years.

Firstly:>The Presideatter the new government has understood the necessity of building the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ in the province of Van, a large Islamic university similar to al-Azhar University, which I have been pursuing for forty awaken Sultan Reşad gave twenty thousand gold liras>for its construction and the former despotic government's Parliament allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras,>signed by one hundred and sixty-three deputiesan Afrs a matter of paramount importance for the world of Islam, for the east, and for this nation. The President has evidently understood this for among all the pressing affairs of state, he mld be is announcement, which I am sending you. Even if it does not come to fruition, it is truly auspicious that the very fact of its necessity has been understood. The Presidly looelâl Bayar, said among other things in his key speech in the Parliament, that the Ministry of Education is conducting investigations preliminary to founding the Eastern University in at is e said:

"All obstacles must be overcome to found such a learned establishment in Van, which is one of our eastern provinces. Initial steps mustom sinken in the next fiscal year."

That is to say, the young university students who presented the President with a copy of our biography gave him to understand the Risale-i Nur's>value.

Secondly:>Ths, he st significant words of the President are a sign that the invaluable services that the Risale-i Nur>has performed and will perform for this country have been understood. The Nurjus should offer thanks for all the difficultie as th have suffered and the confiscations of the Risale-i Nur,>and not complain, since they have yielded this significant result.

[Our Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, used this defence speech, which was published in Samsun by the newspaper, Büyük Cihad, after having been read in the court there, in the courof thistanbul and the case resulted in an acquittal.]

Our covert enemies again prompted the judiciary to move against us this Ramadan. The mnger fconcerns a secret communist society.

One of them:>While taking some air in the countryside and sitting alone on a hillside, three armed gendarmes and a sergeant approached me in a way that was completely oto our the law, and accused me of not wearing a peaked cap. They took me by force to the police station. So I say to all the courts of law whose purpose is the administerirld Wajustice:

While those who act illegally in five respects and break the laws of Islam in five ways in the name of Islam, should be accused of illegal behaviour, they will surely bmed byshed by the Supreme Tribunal on the Last Day for trampling the law in that way and using it as an excuse, and causing me torments of the conscience for two years. Which law in the world would permit someone who has been a t and e for thirty-five years and goes neither to any market or town to be censured for not wearing a European-style hat? These last twenty-eight years, five provinces and their police and five courtspretatw have not interfered with his headgear, and no police interfered during this last court case in Istanbul, even, under the eyes of more than a hundred police and for two mo Name,aking trips everywhere there on foot. And since the Court of Appeal ruled against the prohibition of the beret, and also, none of the women, including those of them who do not wear the veil, and none of the private soldiers nds ofliged to the wear the brimmed hat like some officials, and since there is absolutely no advantage in wearing it, and I have no official post - seeing the; witis an item of official dress - and those who wear berets are not prosecuted, to propose that he wears the hat and resembles foreign priests and to threaten taughth court proceedings would certainly disgust anyone with a grain of conscience. For he is a recluse and does not mix with people, and so as not to busy his spirit with this ugly, illegal matter during Ramadan, and in ors of wt to preoccupy his heart and spirit with his body, does not take medicines or call the doctor although he is seriously ill.

For example:>The person who was proposing this said that he has to obey orders. But how can you have ordthe prth the force of arbitrary laws? Yes, in the Qur'an, there are verses like: "O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you">(Q 4:59rgive ch command obedience to leaders so as not to resemble the Jews

and Christians. On condition it is not contrary to obedience to God and Hning iphet (UWBP), a person may act on the understanding that he is complying with that obedience. Whereas in this case, although the laws of IslamI am sdition command compassion to the sick, and to strangers, and not to cause trouble or distress to those who serve the Qur'an and the sciences of beliefe Mercllah's sake, they propose that a hermit who has renounced the world wear a hat like a foreign priest, which is contrary to the law not ten but a hundred times over, and is opposed too to the traditional laws of I does nd tramples those sacred laws on account of some arbitrary orders. Treatment of this kind of someone like me who is extremely ill, extremely old and at the door of the grave, is alone, a stranger, impecunious, and w ***

thirty-five years has abandoned the world so as not to act contrarily to the Prophet's (UWBP) Sunna, is without any doubt one foot of a ghastly conspiracy on account of anarchy and under the veil of communism, to ha points country, nation, Islam, and religion. It is also a conspiracy against the religious deputies and Democrats who intend to serve Islam and this country and have formed a front against the awesome destruction coming from outside. The religious we mayes should be beware. They should not leave it to me to defend against this serious conspiracy on my own.

Postscript:>For no advantage and illegally, to orde fordevotee of Islam and self-sacrificing servant of the Qur'an who did not condescend to rise to his feet before the commander-in-chief of the Russians although tyou comander deliberately passed in front of him three times, and in order to preserve the dignity of Islam, did not bow before him despite the threat of execution; and in order to defend Islam's honour, attached not the slightest importance ue bro threats of execution of the commander-in-chief of the British occupying forces Istanbul and those who had issued fatwas,>and opposed them in the press saying: "Spit in hesitameless faces of those tyrants!"; and who, in the presence of fifty deputies, declared: "Those who do not perform the prayers are traitors!" and disregarded Mustafa Kemak, Mehath; and did not toady to the military court and replied to its intimidating questions: "I am ready to sacrifice my life for a single matter of the Shari'a!"; and who has chosen solitude these last twenty-eight years in y sayinot to resemble non-Muslims - if it is said to such a person: "You have to resemble the Jewish or Christian priests! You have to wear a hat lid poliy do! You have to oppose the consensus of all the Islamic ulema, otherwise we are going to punish you!" certainly a person who has sacrificed all he has for the truth of the Qur'an, would sacrifice a hundred lition.

he had them, as his biography testifies, even if he were to be decimated with knives and thrown into Hell, let alone worldly prisons, penalties, and torture.

What is the reason for this self-sacrificing devotee's e*

#29ce and his not retaliating negatively and with material force to the tyrannical injustices of the covert enemies of this country and religion, although he has co with able non-material forces? I proclaim the following to you and to all people of conscience: The All-Wise Qur'an has taught him the lessons of the Risale-i Nur,>which instil a prohibitor in everyone's heart so thatountryall their strength they preserve internal order and security, lest harm should come to ninety innocents on account of ten irreligious atheists. I could otherwisted by my revenge in one day on my cruel enemies of twenty-eight years. Thus, on the way of preserving public order and for the sake of innocent people, he does not defend his honour and dignity agains intose who insult him, and he says: I shall sacrifice not my worldly life, but if necessary my life in the hereafter for the Islamic nation.

ell, wrticle by journalist 'Isa 'Abd al-Qadir, which appeared in the newspaper ad-Difâ', published in Baghdad, in 1954

The Baghdad newspaper ad-Difâ'>asked the followicourtsut the Risale-i Nur>students:

Is there any connection between the Risale-i Nur>students in Turkey and the Muslim Brothers? Do they have any relations? And what are thecause rences between them? Are the Risale-i Nur>students in Turkey an independent group or society like the groups called the Muslim Brotherle-i Ning for Islamic unity in Egypt and other Arab countries? Are they attached to those groups or to any one of them? My reply is this:

The aim of both the Nur students and the Muslim Brothers is to serve the truths of Qur'ahem pubelief and to work with the overall aim of securing Islamic unity and the happiness of Muslims in this world and the next. However, the Nurip, itnts differ from the Muslim Brothers in five or six respects:

First Difference:>The Nur students are not involved in politics; they avoid theme If they are obliged to concern themselvech sho politics, they make them a tool of religion, so that they may demonstrate the sacredness of religion in the face of those who exploit politics for irreligion. They are

in no way a political society. Due to the situs, and in their countries, the Muslim Brothers, however, are involved in politics, in order to support religion, and they are a political society.

Second Difference:>The Nur students do not mee to yo their Master and they are not obliged to do so. They do not feel themselves compelled to meet with him. They do not consider it necessary to be togethehought him in order to receive instruction. Rather, the whole country is like a place of instruction; on their obtaining the books, they are taught by them instead of by their Master. The treatises are each like awice c

Moreover, as far as they possibly can, the Nur students write the treatises out for no wage and distribute them free of charge {(*): For twenty-five years the Risale-i Nur rs, ansseminated in this way in Anatolia, being written out by hand. [Author]} to the needy, so that they may read them and listen to them. In this way the whole country has become a vast place of learning.

The Muslime-i Nuers, however, meet with their guides and leaders in general centres, and go to visit them in order to receive instruction and orders. They also meet in the brancill do that general society with their supreme Master and those who are the equivalent of his deputies and successors, and receive instruction and orders. And they obtain for the requirgiven ce the newspapers and books produced in the centres, and receive instruction from them too.

Third Difference:>Just like the students of an elevated medrese (ret to us school) or university, the Nur students learn through scholarly exchanges. A large province becomes like a medrese. They teach each other and learn together althoug-i Nur do not see one another or know each other, and although they far apart.

However, due to the circumstances of their countries, the Muslim Brothers produce books and magazines an is stribute them everywhere; they come to know each other through them, and receive instruction.

Fourth Difference:>The Nur students have now spread to most of the Islamic countries, and they are numerous. In spreading in this wathe rey are present in various countries but they do not need to obtain permission from the governments to meet together and do their work. For thell the is not a political way and they are not a political society, so they do not consider themselves obliged to obtain permission.

However, due to their cigious ances, the Muslim Brothers are involved in politics and need to organize a society and open centres and branches, and are therefore obliged to obtain permission from the authorities

whereverlanatiare found. And they are not unknown like the Nur students. In this way they have opened numerous branches in their general centres, including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Sudan, the Maghrib, and Baghdad.

Fiountryfference:>There are numerous different levels among the Nur students, from seven or eight-year-old children who are learning the Arabic alphabet in mosques to learn the Qur'an, to elderly men and women of seventy to lims a years old; and from villagers and porters to prominent members of the National Assembly; and from private soldiers to high-ranking officers. The sole aim of all these many levels of Nur students is to become illuminated by the guidance of e sameble Qur'an and truths of belief. All their endeavour is to spread knowledge, learning and the truths of belief. They are known for not being invo causeith anything else. The fearsome trials these last twenty-eight years and their cunning and jealous opponents have been unable to discove signsaim apart from this sacred service, and have therefore been unable to convict them and rout them. The Nur students do not feel themselves compelled to search for customers and sup- porttime Ihey say: "Our duty is to serve. We do not seek customers; let them come and seek us out and find us." They attach no importance to quantity. They prefer one person who is truly sincere, to a hundred othersannot or sure, like the Nur students, the Muslim Brothers encourage and urge others to adhere to the sciences and learning of Islam and the levell of belief, but due to their situations and countries and their involvement with politics, they attach importance to quantity and increasing their numbers, and they seek supporters.

Sixth Difference:>Just as true, sincere Nur studed evertach no importance to material benefits, so some of them, with their maximum frugality and contentment and poverty, and fortitude and independence, they abstain in some respects with trueor womrity and devotion in serving the Qur'an from the advantages of society. This is so that they will not be defeated in the face of the numerous, violent people of misguidance, nor give rise to doZülfikhen calling the needy to the truth and to sincerity, nor make that sacred service the tool of anything other than divine pleasure.

Although essentially the Muslim Brothderstollow the same aim, due to place and circumstances and other causes, they cannot give up the world like the Nur students. They do not consider themselves oblck froo make that supreme self-sacrifice.

['Isa 'Abd al-Qadir, a writer on the political newspaper, ad-Difâ',>which is published in Baghdad, says the following:]

Readers of ad-Difâ'>are extens me about Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the guide of the Nur students. They ask for information about him and the Nur students in Turkey. So I am replying to them briefly. For the Master, the Risale-i Nur,>and the Nur stngth o are concerned with the Arabs, and the Arabs are taking a serious interest in them, for as the main grouping of Islam, they have begun to see great b preses from the Risale-i Nur.

With the Risale-i Nur,>the Nur students form an effective barrier against communism, both in Turkey and in the Arab world.

... ... ...

This article was written considering conditions previous to thple's ng to power of the Democrats when according to the public prosecutor, the Nur students numbered five hundred thousand. But now there are now millions of them in Turkey, and every day they increase in number,

;>you ... ...

As for the Risale-i Nur,>it is spreading to such an extent that it is being sought eagerly not only in Turkey and the Islamic lands, but also in Europe aeleven West. Nothing can destroy the Nur students' enthusiasm. The Democrat government is to be highly commended for permitting the considerable services the studchoolsave performed for the Qur'an with the Risale-i Nur,>so that the Islamic movement in the blessed Islamic world meets them with applause and appreciation. All the Muslim peoples of Iraq - the Arabs, Kurds, Turks,rbanceersians - have greeted this sacred, Islamic service and endeavour joyfully, and they hold the view that their brothers in Turkey are resistinor theharmful effects of Westernization.

[A letter written by our Master to the Prime Minister, Adnan Menderes, who approves of ande him ciates the services rendered by the~Risale-i Nur to the country, nation, and Islam.]

In His Name, be He glorified!

I would have liked to speak with a champion of Islam like Adnan Menderes, but my circumstances do not allow it, fse facm very ill and not concerned with politics. I have therefore written this letter to speak in my place, instead of a face-to-face conversation.

I am going to elucidate a few very brief principles other nan Menderes, the champion of Islam:

The First>is one of Islam's many fundamental laws and is a true meaning of the verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etcrefere is as follows:

No one, neither friends nor relations, can be held responsible for another's crime. Whereas the partisanship of present party politics causes people to acquiesce in and consent to numerous "Mastents suffering harm on account of a single criminal. Due to a single criminal's crime, the supporters and relatives of the innocent are also maligned and humiliated; and because this to maplies the crime a hundredfold, it gives rise to terrible hatred and enmity; and breeding malice and rancour, it forces retaliation in kind. This a poison that completely overturns the life ofhe namty and prepares the ground for the intervention of external enemies. It is understood that the events and crises experienced in Iran and Egypt arose from action of this kind. But the situation with them is not the situation heric morh us, it is comparatively less severe, only one per cent. God protect us! If it had been like that here, it would have been terrible indeed.

The sole solution for this danger is to make Islamic brotherhood and primary Islamd seveionhood the foundation of that force, for the protection of innocent people and to ensure that the crimes of criminals remain restricted to themselves.

this w above fundamental law is also the foundation of public peace and security. For example, true justice and the fundamental law of public order and security demands that if onetary ient person and ten criminals are found in a house or on a ship, the house or ship should not be attacked so that the innocent person may be saved and no harm comes to him. But when he is saved ...

Thus, tics. ing to this Qur'anic fundamental law, the disturbance of

internal order and violation of security thus casting into danger ninety innocents on account of ten criminals, is a means o Its aacting divine wrath. Since in these uncertain times, Almighty God has paved the way for a number of truly religious people to come to power, present circumstances warn that they should take this fu is notal law of the Qur'an as a basis of action for themselves, to shield themselves against their malicious enemies.

Islam's Second Fundameorshipaw>is the Hadith, "A people's ruler is its servant," {[*]: al-Maghribî, Jâmi' al-Shaml, i, 450, no. 1668; al-'Ajlûnî, Kashf al-Khafâ', ii, 463. [Tr.]} which means that officialdom is service and should not lead roach ression and egotistical domination. But at the present time egotism has burgeoned due to the absence of Islamic training and deficient wthem a. And because officialdom has been made into ranks for the practice of arbitrary domination rather than service, justice cannot be admereforred and is in essence corrupted, like performing the prayers in any direction without the ablutions. And the people's rights are totally violated. Thnable le's rights (hukuk-u ibad)>do not become hukukullah>(that is, they are not sanctioned), that they may be rights. On the contrary, they are the cause of selfish injustices.

Adnan Menderes greatw said that they are going to enact whatever is required by the religion of Islam. But there is a strong possibility that in absolute opposition to the two abovewas dioned fundamental laws, two awesome currents will go on the offensive in order to deceive the people with substantial bribes and will pave the way for forhe easntervention.

The First Assault:>In opposition to the first fundamental law, this has slaughtered forty innocent people due to one criminal and set fire to a village. Such absolute despotism bribes officials, granting them ped witnd control and gratifying their souls, while religious lovers of freedom are persecuted.

The Second Assault:>This is apparently a sort of nationalism which renounces the sacrsixty ionhood of Islam, and like the previous one is able to trample the rights of a hundred innocents due to one criminal, but in reality, withsing ttreak of racialism, strives against both the religious, freedom-loving Democrats, and the members of other races who constitute seventy per cent of this country's population, and the wretched Turks, andharassolicies followed by the Democrats, producing only a racist brotherhood as an inauspiciously pleasurable bribe for good-for-nothing egotists. Out of their drunkenness they do not perceive the to caurdinary danger of

turning into enmity the true brotherhood which is a thousand times more beneficial than the thrills they get from that racist co esteehip. For example, racialism causes to be lost for the trivial worldly benefits of four hundred useless loafers, the moral and spiritual assistance received every day from the universal praye coin God! Forgive all believing men and women," which is recited by four hundred million true brothers with a sense of Islamic nationhood. This is a grave dahe subor both this country, and the government, and the religious Democrats, and the Turks, and those who pursue it are not true Turks. The noble Turks avoid such errors. It is quite clear from their actions that these two grou capit attempting to take advantage of everything and to overturn the religious Democrats, and they are being made to do so. The sole solution in the face of these opponents and the internal and external enemies and their destruction, which absoluries ias to be implemented, is to rely on the unshakeable power of the Qur'anic reality, with which forty Companions of the Prophet (UWBP) challenged and prevailed over forty states and which for one thousand four hundred years has hathe lee or four million students, and to depend on the worldly pleasures and pleasures of everlasting happiness in the hereafter yielded by that reality. Otherwise those pitiless internal and external enemies of yours wil I aify one error you commit, and adding to it the crimes committed by the supporters of the former regime, will load them all on you, just as they did to others before you.

This constitutave muanger for both you and the country and nation the harms of which would be irreparable. In return for your services and your accepting the implits, I myself and our Nurju brothers will pray to Almighty God for your success in your works for the good of Islam and for your preservation from the above-mentioned dangers.

The Third:>An Said fundamental law related to the social life of Islam is the Hadith, "The believers are like a well-built structure with one firmly supporting the other." {[*]: Bukhârî, Salât, 88; Adab, 36s on hlim, 5; Muslim, Birr, 65; Tirmidhî, Birr, 18; Nasâ'î, Zakât, 67; Musnad, iv, 405, 409. [Tr.]} That is, to forget internal hostilities in the face of the aggression of external enemies and to support one another. Even the rev, Srimitive tribes have understood the advantages of this fundamental law, for when attacked by an enemy from outside, they desist from fighting against one anofact, ntil the enemy is repulsed, even if the member of one tribe has killed the father or brother of someone belonging to another tribe, and they support one another. So it is with a thousand -old cs that we say that incidents occur in which, as a consequence of the partisanship that

arises from egotism, self-advertisement, arrogancI have cruel politics, people shower blessings on Satan if he assists their side, and curse angels if they help the opposing side. In fact, I saw one righteous religious scholar speak so badly about another rigch is scholar as to accuse him of disbelief, while enthusiastically praising an atheist who was inimical to Islam yet held the same ideas as himself and supported him. It was becaugravesthis that I have given up politics this last thirty-five years, as though fleeing from the Devil.

Furthermore, now it appears that when someone perpetrated a serious misdemeanour towards both Ramadan, and the marks of Islam, and this relianded nation, his opponents were pleased at the situation. Whereas, just as consenting to disbelief is disbelief, so agreeing with misguidance, vice, and wrongdoing is misguidance, vice, and wrongdoine offenderstood from this extraordinary situation that with the idea of exonerating themselves from their crimes in the nation's eyes, they want to show their opponents to brs (ul irreligious and guilty than themselves and to see them thus. Awesome injustices of this sort both have perilous consequences, and overturning social mr the y, resemble a serious conspiracy against this country and nation and Islamic supremacy.

I was going to write more but for now I am sufficing ever axplaining these three essential points for the religious promoters of liberty.

[We present an addendum to some facts we wrote previously aone inhe life of our society with the intention of sending it to Adnan Menderes.]

Addendum:>In my view, the sole way of preventing the Ticanî question {[*]: A group affiliated with the Tijaniyya Order (T. Tican beginch in the early 1950s attacked the many busts and statues of Atatürk in and around Ankara. Accusing the Democrat government of condoning reactionism, the oppositionefit blican People's Party exploited the question as a means of pressurizing the government. [Tr.]} being loaded on the religious Democrats, whichem'alated from the unnecessary, arbitrary laws of the former regime, indeed, due to their provocations, and so that they do not lose face in the sight of the Ise of tworld; is to restore Aya Sophia to its sacred function of five hundred years, just as they were strengthened tenfold by restoring the Arabic call to prayer, and to announce the Risale-i Nur's>freedom officially. For at presneedy e Risale-i Nur>is yielding very favourable results in the Islamic world and

has won its good opinion for the people of this country, and he airourts have acquitted it, and twenty-eight years of court cases have found nothing harmful in it. The religious Democrats should apply a salve tof the wound. Then they will both win the good opinion of the world of Islam, and the injustices and errors of others will not be ascribed to them. For the sake that religious Democrats and especially such persons as Adnan Menderes, I have dwelt on political matters for an hour or two despite having renounced them for the past thirty-five years, and hto oppitten this.

In His Name, be He glorified!

A summons arrived from Samsun Criminal Court which stated that the eove-meng magistrate and prosecutor had opened a case against me in connection with a complaint I had written which was published in the newspaper, Büyük Cihad.>They read it to me and I saw that it contained only four points that were worthy nging sideration.

The First:>The editor of Büyük Cihad>had evidently told the public prosecutor: "Said Nursi sent me the article so I published it,"

The fact of the matter iouse I: when I was ill in Emirdağ, my brothers there came to visit me and we spoke about an unpleasant and inhumane incident that had occurred involving me. I was both ill and ang to nd said a few things complaining about Ankara. The person who assists me was with me and he wrote them down, With the approval of the Nur students, he sent the note to one or two students in Ankara for them he staw to some religious deputies so that, seeing that I was ill, difficulties should not be inflicted on me. It was sent and some deputies saw it. It pleased a person we are not ts glonted with and he evidently sent it to the editor of Büyük Cihad.>But I swear that neither then did I know who sent it nor do I now. A copy was sent here after it was published e to Gmeone read it to me since I do not know the new letters. I was pleased and called down God's blessings on the publishers. It's true that I have given up politics for thirty-five years, but for the sake of religion I was grof rel to the owner and writers of Büyük Cihad,>a newspaper which serves religion sincerely. "May God be pleased with them!" I exclaimed. After that, the blessed paper was then sent to me regularly, but without my knowled to po without it being paid for.

The Second Point>is about my being sent to the Criminal Court in Samsun.

Concerning this point, I say with lder),rtainty that I would have liked to go to Samsun to visit my brothers of the hereafter who are linked to the Büyük Cihad>and the Nur stuhe defin the region, but as stated by the doctor's report, my infirmity is so advanced that for one and a half years I have been unable to attend for five minuot accen the court that was holding the trial, although it had summoned me, The public prosecutor and examining magistrate who was acting as judge were compelled to come to me. They brought with thehion anewspaper that was the subject of their questioning. The paper had mixed in some of its own words with mine. I gave them the necessary replies. If the Criminfairs.rt attaches so much importance to this case, it should allow my trial to be transferred to Eskişehir, for there I can appear in person since I have a two-month report from the health committee stating that I am severely ill from poison. you t otherwise quite impossible.

Third Point:>Basing it on Article 163 of the Criminal Code, the prosecutor and examining magistrate accuy.

d Nursi of exploiting religion for politics and disturbing public order. The truth about this point is that five or six courts over the past twenty-nine ysts shnd the police of five or six provinces have found nothing indictable apart from two matters in the one hundred and thirty-three parts of my books and all my thousands of letters which they had f Reli, despite the provocations of some irreligious secret societies and their deceiving certain naive officials. Evidence for this are the facts that Denizli Criminal Court and Ankara Crimi me wourt and the Court of Appeal all agreed on my acquittal and the return of all my books, and in five or six provinces only one court wanted to impose a light sentence on the pretext I owe expounding a Qur'anic verse about Islamic dress. In the face of my decisive and powerful reply, they were obliged to alter the verdict into one of discretion, That is to say, they could fiy of thing to convict me of either. For further elucidation of this point, I am sending you also the petition I sent to the chairman of Afyon Court.

In Short:>The same palanity, s repeated in five or six courts yet they could find nothing that constitutes an offence, Now the Samsun prosecutor and examining magistrate are repeating the same palaver of age wy-eight years: "He is conducting campaigns of propaganda to secure personal influence and is exploiting religion for political ends," I refeslam a to my unrefuted defence speeches of four hundred or so pages which I have delivered during five trials. Let them take a look at them rather than making me speak.

i

In His Name, be He glorified!

Having received a summons from Samsun, I am presenting my brief reply to its panel of judges:

First:>I did not send the article. All my friendthe ab know that.

Second:>By reason of my severe illness due to being poisoned, which was an assassination attempt by my covert enemies, I have been able to attend only once the mosque next to mcame t. I therefore tender the legal request to have the trial transferred from Samsun Court to Eskişehir, which is near here.

We have been given a magazine calls. But-Siddîq,">which is published in Pakistan. We saw that nearly half of the fifty-page magazine consisted of articles from the Risale-i Nur.>On the front page and given pride of place was the First Topic of the We und-Second Letter, written as an invitation to the verse: "Indeed, the believers are brothers!">(Q 49:10) and to Islam. The Turkish original of the treatise, which the Arabic magazine translated, was presented a year ago to the public, and Justiially to the leaders of this Islamic government and its deputies. There are three or four reasons for again presenting it for their information:

The First: It is now establisheition ugh the hundreds of certain signs and evidences in The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen Collection>from the Risale-i Nur>which have been affirmed by numerous events, that by performing fully the function of a Qur'anic barrier against the mopense,d spiritual devastation of anarchy, communism, naturalism, and materialism, and doubts, suspicions, and absolute disbelief, the Risale-i Nur>is a means of preserving thisnd jinry within the perilous storms that shake the world, like acceptable almsgiving. It has become abundantly clear that it forms an immaterial shield against the calamity of the Second World War, preventing the disasters that are occurring in othe truthtries from entering this country. The most obdurate scientistic philosophers, even, who have studied the Risale-i Nur>have had to affirm this fact. With its five hundred thousand students and the six hundred thousandndamens of its treatises and with its instruction in belief its placing a prohibitor in everyone's hearts

A Guigress Youth>is a most beneficial part of the Risale-i Nur>that has trained and instructed thousands of youths to the advantage of this counte writtion, and public order. In connection with its trial, during which one hundred and twenty police tried to disperse the crowd, and despite his illnese Risa Master twice attended the court which unanimously ruled that both himself and A Guide for Youth>be acquitted. But then, although all the thas dies among which was the Guide>had been acquitted by five courts and it should have been returned in fifteen days, fifteen months later it still has nodo not returned. It may therefore be said that the present events, which have caused the country losses of one and a half thousand million liras,>have come aubts wue to the above and due to Afyon Court delaying for five years the return of the treatises in spite of the decisions of the criminal courts of Denizli and Ankara, and due to the seizure of the personal e dead, paid for by himself, of a person who in respect of belief, religion, and public order, is more beneficial than a hundred preachers for the region of Diyarbakır and the eastern provinces, thusrs havnting his useful services to the

country and nation. Such services resemble acceptable almsgiving and are a means of repulsing disasters, and their being obscured in this way has resulted in the cas of A finding a way and occurring. If, following the decisions of the five courts and Istanbul for the acquittals, A Guide for Youth>had been published, the Muslim youths would have taken lessons from it and would certainlyd givellowed the corruption of the revolutionaries or others, and would have displayed every effort to save the nation from these huge losses, They would not have permitted the blot of this loss.

Yes, indeed, our Master understood while a prisoneation,ar in Russia during the Great War that the dangers threatening the youth with moral and spiritual corruption would be visited on our country. He was alarmed and since that time has written numerous works like A Guncludir Youth>to shield them from it. He has published numerous lessons from the All-Wise Qur'an, which, all thanks be to God, have been instrumental in saving very many young people. Since the politintly iare now seeking general reconciliation and national unity, they should permit the publication of the treatise printed in the magazine as-Siddiq,>to which Pakistan has dedicaed so much importance.

In His Name, be He glorified!

According to an inner meaning of the verse, "No bearer of burdens can divinehe burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.), no one is answerable for another's error, even the perpetrator's brother. So is there any law in the world that int itlay charges against one hundred and thirty books with their hundred thousand pages on account of one page of a hundred-page treatise, even if in the view of the obdurately unfair it contained an error? In any event, five courtn it saw have acquitted the same books over the past thirty years. Also, twenty courts were involved with them due to the Malatya Incident. Those twenty courts said they could find nothing reprl Euroble in them. Also, no one has been in any way harmed by the six hundred thousand copies that have been disseminated both in this country and abroadome coeven Christians have read them in the place they call the Nur Study Centre inside one of Europe's leading schools, and they have been regarded highly in the Islamic world and have spread there, and a treatise from the Risa twentur>printed in the Pakistani magazine as-Siddîq was even sent to the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and although it has been published so widely no religious scholar has objected to it. All this shows that

esson o protect the Risale-i Nur>is a genuine duty of the Religious Affairs Directorate. For like the Office of the Şeyhülislam, the Directorate is We Wrligious instructor not only of Turkey but of all the Islamic world, with which it has relations and connections. It is essential at the present time especially, that the world of Islam looks completely favourably on it and doesdred pntertain doubts about it. Furthermore, the Risale-i Nur>has been met favourably everywhere in the Islamic world and even in Europe and effectively disallows the Islamic governments which are noe, affed with Turkey looking negatively on the Directorate, and thus defends the Directorate's honour. It is therefore imperative that the Directorate publishes the Risale-i Nur>as one of it

Siworks. The experts' committee should give due consideration to this point. For these reasons, the members and hojas>of the Directorate should be concerning themselves with the Risale-i Nur>a hundred timese oppothan wretched Said Nursi and Nur students, so that it may be protected and preserved in the face of the assaults of the irreligious. The intriguers should be silenced who are preventing its publication despite its numerous acquittall beneaid Nursi

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings!

In Ankara, on the pretext of The Staff of Moses>and A Guide for Youth,>they ur stuo take all the Risale-i Nur>off one of our brothers. He showed them the Criminal Court's acquittal of The Staff of Moses,>so they did not take it. Without being aware of it, they put some books os of tof the ten copies of A Guide for Youth>which they had found and placed before their eyes. When they were set to go, they searched everywhere for the Guide, but could not find it. In thives if the Guide protected itself as an instance of its own wonder-working. The copies they took of one each of the treatises and collections other than the Guide>and The Staff of Moses>were subsequently returned by the police.

t, Sungur, Ziya

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

Our Dear, Loyal, Devoted Brother, Haji Ali!

loitede received your valuable letter, which especially pleased our Master. Our Master says:

At the present time, the Risale-i Nur>is sufficient. Scholars testify that they have bt the ed in one year from the Risale-i Nur>to the extent they benefited from studying in the medreses for ten years. Thousands testify to

{[*]: Tevfik İleri (1911-1961), acted as Minister of Education and of other departments in all the Democratthem enments of the 1950s. [Tr.]}

We told our Master about your invaluable service with the University of the East, and he said:

If I had not been ill, I would have gone to the eastern provinces for the university. I tyranntulate the Minister of Education with my whole life and spirit. Fifty-five years ago, before the proclamation of the Second Constitution, {[*]: Bediuzzaman went to Istven that the end of November, 1907. The Constitution was reinstated on 23 July 1908. [Tr.]} I went to Istanbul to work for the founding of a university in the east called the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ; there were to be three universities, one in Van, one ur'an arbakır, and one in Bitlis, or at least one in Van. The Constitution was reinstated and the matter was neglected. Then, when the Unionists were in power, I went to Kosthe se connection with Sultan Reşad's visit. The attempt was being made there to found a large Islamic university. I said to both the Unionists and Sultan Reşad that the east had far so iter need, for it was like the centre of the Islamic world. They gave their word concerning it, but then the Balkan Wars broke out and Kosova was invaded. So I requested that the twenty thtes ev gold liras>assigned to it should be given for the university in the east, They accepted. I went to Van and with a thousand-lira advance laid the foundations at Artemit on the shores of Lake Van, But then the First Wo unablr broke out and again it was abandoned.

Having escaped from captivity during the War, I returned to Istanbul. Later they summoned me to Ankara due to my services for the national movementsemblent and told them there: "Throughout my life I have been trying to found a university in the east. Sultan Reşad and the Unionists assigned it twenty thousand gold lirasis itsadd the same amount to that." They agreed to allot it one hundred and fifty thousand liras>and I insisted that the deputies should put their signatures to it. Some of the deputies pro- tested that I intended to found a medrese-st moderolely Islamic, institution, while imitation of the West was now needed. So I told them:

"The eastern provinces are a sort of centre of the Islamic world; it is essene it phat both the modern sciences and the religious sciences are taught. For the fact that most of the prophets have appeared in the east and most of the philosophers in the west shows that the east wi exampgress

through religion.

{(*): Previously to this I had a student who was not Turkish. In my old medrese, thanks to the lessons in patriotism he had received from the religious sciences, that very patriotic and intelligent student used to or thrA righteous Turk is more of a relative and brother to me than my own sinful father and brother!" As fate would have it, that same studentls of ed only the materialist modern sciences. Then when I met him four years later, there was conversation about patriotic zeal. He said: "I now prefer a heretic Kurd to a righteous Turkish hoja!" "Alas I said, "You haveyle, scorrupted!" I worked at him for a week and saved him and restored him to his former patriotic self. So I told the deputies who were opposing me in the Parliament: "You can see how much the Turkish nation is in need of the foassaulttitudes of that student, and how opposed to the country's benefits, is his second state. That is to say, even if politics do not demand attaching importance to religion in other provinces and give precedence hen ons world over religion, it is essential that in the eastern provinces religious instruction is given paramount importance. The deputies who were opposing to me then complied and one hundred and sixty-three deputies signed the and t Surely twenty-seven years of absolute despotism has not nullified a bill that carried so many signatures. [Author]}

Even if only the modern sciences ashall ght in other provinces, in the east, for the good of the country and nation, the religious sciences should be made the basis. Otherwise, the Muss suggho are not Turks will not feel themselves to be true brothers to the Turks. We have to co-operate in solidarity now in the face of so many enemies."

Now, due to my extreme incapability arising from iwere g from poison and old age, I am deprived both of following this, my life's aim of fifty- five years, and seeing it, and of going to Ankara to congratulate in heartfelt manner those who are working at the project, whichperts'e key to the east's progress.

Certainly, my works entitled Münâzarat>and al-Saykal al-Islâmiyya,>which were printed thirty-five years ago by the Ebüzziya Press, have not esclved whe notice of the Education Minister. They should speak in my place. I have just about given up hope for life. But I appoint as deputiessenti one hundred and fifty treatises of the Risale-i Nur,>which may form the foundations, principles, and sort of curricula for the university's consequents brilucation. I present this to this country and nation's self-sacrificing young university students and Education Ministry, and beseech from divine mercy that Tevfik İleri, who has been granted success enty-es question, will take on himself the Risale-i Nur>in place of this wretched Said.

commit

In reply to an article about Atatürk University which appeared in the newspaper Ulus>on 1.4.1954, writrred t a fiercely critical member of the opposition party, we are here explaining the truth about the university. It is as follows:

Our Master, Said Nursi, spared noregrett over the last fifty years to found the university which is now called Atatürk University. Although he was opposed to them, the Unionists and Sultan R the wssigned nineteen thousand gold liras>for its construction, and its foundations were laid in Van. Then, with the outbreak of the Great War, it was abandoned. At the beginning of the republican period, our Master again made attempts, presentin from matter to the deputies in the National Assembly in Ankara. There, although he was completely opposed to the leadership and had renounced politics and . I re some ways opposed to them, saying that he had given up the world; and although he told Mustafa Kemal that those who fail to perform the obligatory prayers are traitors and he refused his offer of important posts such as general preacheour mahe eastern provinces, with its salary and perks; the decision was still taken for the founding of the university in the east and it was allotted one hundred and re calthousand liras>and the bill was signed by one hundred and sixty-three deputies out of two hundred and ratified by Mustafa Kemal. That is to say, at that time, the university was the most pressing question concerning the east. And now the nis a p twenty times greater, Finally, the decision has been taken by the present Islamic government for its construction, again as a result of our Master's initiative irituacouragement.

We are presenting one or two points - only a drop from the ocean - describing the universal importance of the Eastern University.

The First:>The univesacredis like a heart at the centre of Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Anatolia. It is both an al-Azhar University and a Medresetü'z-Zehrâ.

The Second:>All humanity is now seeking ways to secure univerrâ.]

ace, that is, to prevent the corruption of humanity. Pacts and agreements are being signed. The Islamic government here is trying to establish friendly relations with countries from Yugoslavia to Spain, for general peaccount reconciliation and its own benefit. The sole solution for this is the Risale-i Nur,>a book of instruction of the person who first proposed the projected Eastern University, aboutreconciles the positive sciences with

the sciences of belief, and is approved and praised by the official religious scholars despite its offending them and challenging the former government, and has been acqus instby the courts. Evidence for this is the general peace and security it has ensured for this country and nation due to which the internal disturbances that have occurred in the Islamic countries, especia from rocco, Egypt, Syria, and Iran, have not happened here. Thus, the fact that the Risale-i Nur>ensures public security despite there being more reasons for disturbances here, shows that the foin whi of the Eastern University will be a step towards bringing peace and reconciliation to humanity. For since at the present time the damage is moral and spiritual, a moral and spiritual atom bomb is needed to repair it. Decise end idence for this is the fact that the Risale-i Nur>- the source and seed of the university - has formed a barrier these last thirty years against the assaults of misguidance, scientistic philosophy, and irreligion. It apparted as a moral and spiritual atom bomb repairing the moral and spiritual destruction.

The Third:>As a centre that will attract the world of Islam and all Asia, tich wotern university is of paramount importance and if expenditure on its construction was sixty thousand million liras>rather than sixty million, it would still be worth it.

Since the Yeni Ulus>(*): Iaper of the opposition, it wants to conceal this matter and smear with accusations of reactionism some of the leading officials of the new government who are working at it. The quesin at however, is one of progress, development, and general peace. Similarly to such marks of Islam as the Arabic call to prayer and religious instruction, an educational institution of that kind will strengthen this Islamic government conbî; usbly. Indeed, because of it, the government will be applauded in the future and praised in the history books.

This great service and the enlreligiment that will result from the project's realization will afford an unprecedented brilliance to the Democrat government that will shine for all eternity and will gain for it international recognition.

It was indeed a good thing that our case was postponed and transferred to Ankara Court. Now, both Isparta Court, and the return of Molla Hamid's books in Van uth ouhmet Kaya's in Diyarbakir, and Afyon, all are looking

to Ankara. With a good result in Ankara, all our business everywhere will be resolved, God willing, It evidenlassesd to be, especially in Ankara, that at this time attention is turned towards the truths of belief in the Risale-i Nur.>God willing, our case being transferred there will lead to a significant raising of awareness.

er bot brother,

I am obliged to explain a matter to all my friends and especially to v subsis:

Most of my life has passed in solitude, and since for the past thirty to forty years I have been the object of surveillance and o thists, I am averse to meeting and conversing with people unnecessarily and feel disinclined to do so. Also, since my early life, gifts both material and otherwise, have made me uncomfortable. Also, at the present my visitors and friends hese moltiplied, and they expect something from me. Just as a physical sweet given as a gift now makes me ill, so is being visited a non-material gift, as is meeting with people. Especially if the visitors come from other places and take trouble juextraoshake hands; to do so is a significant immaterial gift, But I have nothing to give in return. Moreover, such gifts are not cheap; indeed, in effect ta notee expensive. I do not consider myself worthy of reverence and respect; I cannot respond to that in kind either. So for now I have been prevented from unnecessary meetings and conversations, which are like immaterial giftsvine be, just like material gifts. They sometimes make me ill, just as material gifts do when I cannot give their full equivalent in return. So no one should feel offended or upset.

Reading the Risale-i Nur>is ten times more profitabley pri meeting with me. In any event, if anyone meets with me, it is on account of the hereafter, belief, and the Qur'an. I have severed all relations with the world, snd hopeet with me on its account is meaningless. As for the hereafter, belief, and the Qur'an, the Risale-i Nur>leaves no need for me. Especially the letters in the bie natiy. I do not speak unnecessarily even with my select brothers who attend on me. If I meet with certain people to discuss some of the conquests of the ime, w-i Nur>and its dissemination, it may be permissible and does not distress me, I say this to those who come to visit me without

knowing this point, that for the past few years I have been putting announcements in the papers info obserthose who come to visit me, especially from distant places and have to return without seeing me, that I include them in my private prayers. I pray for nd mayvery morning. So they should not feel upset either.

Our Highly Respected Brother, Sâlih!

Our Master sends you and the two religious, true deputies many greetings; he prays for us, td calls down God's blessings on you and on them. Our Master says:

"Long ago I used to expect some strong hands to appear in Urfa who would lay claim to the Risale-i Nur.>For it is a sort of centre between Anatoliacquaibia, and the east. If the Risale-i Nur>was to become established there, it would spread to all those lands, I offer endless thanks to Almighte glorthat the religious and zealous of the region have started to embrace the Risale-i Nur.>I am sending a number of my own collections there which I bought with my own money, and have correcterablele suffering serious illness from poison. I have chosen Urfa although prominent people from elsewhere have requested them. I am giving them to the Urfa Nur School. God willing, I shall sends thiser copies to them, for there they will serve the Qur'an and belief to the full. I hope from divine mercy that they will be instrumental in a small version of the Isparta Medresetü'z-Zehrâ and of Egypt's al-Azhar University being establisheaving e, and of a small example of the Islamic medreses of Damascus and Baghdad.

"Also, since the Risale-i Nur's>way is the way of friendship ng a hfa is the seat of Abraham, the Friend of God (Peace be upon him), God willing, our way of following in the footsteps of Abraham will shine out there. "Also, there is a strong possibility that I shall go to Urfa this comicion ater if I can be saved from this terrible sickness from poison. I have a powerful desire to do this."

This is what our Master said. We too send you many greetings and respeci

I pray every morning for all the people of Urfa, ishouldng the women and children and those lying in their graves. I send my greetings to them all. Urfa is blessed with its very stones and soil. I am very ill. Let theater e for me too.

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.>(Q 17:44)

Peace be uponthe Prnd God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

On the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan, which in the Islamic world is reckoned e festthe Night of Power I felt both a sort of poisoning and ghastly stomach upset, and another terrible illness that was as though suffusing my nerves, conscience, and heart. Together with these two sicknesses, physical and spiritual, I Turksnly felt a sympathy for all living creatures and their pains. I experienced a mental state far more grievous than my illnesses. Then I felthey brrowful despair more severe than the other two illnesses at my being unable at the end of my eighty-year life to strive at worshipping in a way fittingght ofs final Night of Power, which gains a lifetime of worship of eighty years. Then just as a feeling of pain produced by the nerves and performing the function of the evil-commanding soul was crushing meth thenner meaning of the verse "For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs">(Q 3: 173) came to my assistance. It dispelled those three illnessattempd endless thanks be to Almighty God, in a way outside the customary I was able to bear it. It also healed the three illnesses. As proved in the Treatise for the Sick, for the pndreds who trusts in God, one hour of physical illness is the equivalent of at least ten hours' worship, and on the Night of Power even more than that. So with the iistic I was suffering on the Night of Power replacing the worship I was unable to perform due to my weakness and incapacity, it became a fully healing salve. Then the sickness of the grief I felt out of pity for the pains and suffer exprof living beings, was transformed into spiritual joy and pleasure through the manifestation of divine compassion. That is to say, since the compassion, clehey ha and mercy of the Creator for creatures are the most appropriate and sufficient, their suffering is turned into a sort of pleasure or

reward fof caum. This transforms the pain arising from compassion into pleasure, for to demonstrate compassion greater than divine mercy is meaningless and unjust. This was not merely a salve for me, but a healing remedy. Moreover, in the face of the pa-i Nurlosing at the end of my life an invaluable spiritual treasury, I shared in the mystery of the spiritual partnership of all the select Nur students with all their good wore adva prayers in the name of all; and I participated in the supplications and expressions of divine unity uttered by the congregations of all beings and living creatures, in ththe enha>and tashahhud>in the prayers (salât),>as explained in The Shining Proof (el-Hüccetü'z-Zehrâ)>and A Key to the World of Light (Nur Anahtarı);>and since the elements earth, air, water, and light ar supertongues, I joined in the gifts of life that emerge from the earth and water, and the praise and worship proceeding from the air, the beautiful words, material and otherwise, uttered by the light, and the thanks and praise for all the bountiedents he universe and the universal worship and seeking of help of all creatures, especially living creatures, in the Fatiha>and tashahhud>in the prayers; and I accompanied all the people of tr} and d the believers who travel the right path and declared "Amen!" to their prayers and supplications. The universal mystery of participating in all the above came to my assistance that nigke it was such a panacea for the grievous spiritual sickness I was suffering at being unable to perform my worship in my sick, weak, despairing state, that I experienced a spiritt."

y that in truth I had not found in my healthiest states in the time of my youth and in my most pleasurable invocations. I offered endless thanks and was resigned to that awfuts of ess. I exclaimed: "All praise be to God to the number of all the seconds and minutes of Ramadan in all time!"

In His Name, be He glorified!

Our ght. I says:

"I tell my dear brothers who wish to meet with me: As long as there is no necessity, I no longer have the endurance to meet with people, and cannot speak much owing to being poisoned, weaknengs whd age, and illness. But I tell you with all certainty that every part of the Risale-i Nur>is a Said.

Whichever book you look at, you will profit ten times more than meeting with me face to face, and wd for et with me in reality. I have decided that every morning I shall include in my prayers those who wanted to meet with me for God's sake but were unable to, and I shall continue to do so."

For the past month or two now o Thater is unable to speak with his helpers even. His temperature rises when he starts to speak. He explained the wisdom in this as follows as a result of a warning he received: ng theisale-i Nur>leaves no need for me. No need remains for me to speak. Also, I can speak with only twenty or thirty out of the thousands of my friends. There is a powerful possibilite powe I have been prevented from speaking so as not to offend thousands of people for the sake of twenty. They should excuse me for not meeting with them personally. I could not endure to shake hands at, O Prestival even and be looked at. So no one should feel offended.

{(*): The Risale-i Nur has now begun to be published in both Ankara, and Samsun, and Antalya, so he is compelled not to accept even close friends lest he causesis finecret societies which are inimical to religion to be suspicious about its dissemination. That is, till the printing of The Words (Sözler) is completed. [Author]}

[We present again to you and to the r no oned deputies the attached letter, which we sent to some of them when, due to his illness, our Master sent me to Ankara four years ago to deal with the matters related to the Risale-i Nur trialss.

. The reason for my again sending them is that the same matters continue, especially the moves to found the university in the eastern provinces.]

The extraordinary sprea returhe Risale-i Nur>both at home and abroad these past thirty years and its positive results, and the renewed efforts to found a large university in toundint, which have continued for fifty-five years, are two vital matters that follow on from and complement one another, and are of crucial importance for the Islamic world at this time. They are two events that are a souand ho pride and concern both for this nation, particularly the eastern provinces, and for the four-hundred-million-strong Islamic nations, and for the Christian world, which is s.

for general peace. And they are two universal disseminators and proclaimers of the Islamic religion and the truths of the Qur'an.

For the past fifty-five years, our Master has exerted himself in numerous

waye Risamade the very greatest efforts to found in eastern Anatolia an Islamic university called the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ which would correspond to al-Azhar University. He airty linsisted on the absolute need for it. As it says in the piece our Master wrote to the President and Prime Minister congratulating them on this question, the University of the East would win a place of pride among Mus, be Hs a sort of centre of the Islamic world. The highly valuable, sacred work for religion of the past and the enduring moral qualities of the thousands of esteemed, blessed scholars and gnostics, martyrs and people oers foity who are our ancestors and are buried there, would be personified in this university, where they would persist in serving the cause of belief in a wider field.

The basis of instruction in the Univershat I the East, and of its curriculum, would be the Risale-i Nur,>which expounds the All-Wise Qur'an's truths of belief, and proves all the questi has d deals with with the rational and positive sciences and logical arguments, and addresses the reason, and is suitable to be taught in the universities and schools of the present era.

The Risale-i Nur>appeared throuohs at mediation of a student of the masters and medreses scattered over eastern Anatolia, which for centuries have acted as sources of the water of life for that region. With these latter-day illumined fruits ofy of ls, those esteemed masters will once again take up their duties, expanding them and their service of the Qur'an to embrace the whole world. We hope for this with all our Sufis and beseech divine mercy that it will be realized. The present time and place and conditions of life and the need for general reconciliation all say: "Amen! Amen!" to this, and so roys pill say it.

As a fruit and universal result of the activities in the east related to knowledge and its acquisition, and as the programme of the Eastern University in respect of Islam, the Risale-i Nudefiniely concerns those who strive to serve this nation and the Islamic world. And the fact that the Risale-i Nur>is now being sought in America and Eand waand is spreading there, demonstrates the paramount importance of what we say.

They read me a newspaper the articles of whicbly inw consisted of lies and slanders. Such slanders are extremely harmful for both Isparta and the publishers of the Risale-i Nur.

First Lie:>It accuset is, f giving instruction in Sufism, calling the readers of the Risale-i Nur>"disciples" (murid)>and the Risale-i Nur,>a Sufi path (tarikat).

Whereas those who know me know tccordateach the truths of belief and the Qur'an, not the Sufi way, as has been established in courts of law. The people who listen to my teachings ae egotled Nur students. Our way is not the Sufi way; it is the truths of belief.

Its Second Lie:>The calumniating paper mixes in some erroneous statements from another ntheir er, saying: "The young people of Eğirdir have begun to combat Said and his disciples." All the youths of Isparta and Eğirdir know that this is absolutely baseless. In fact, when they heard about it, they protested angrily. It was jusas cus a man from Eğirdir who is not young wrote somewhat critically that he had met with me thirty years ago. So to say that the youths had started to combat them is a clear lie. The fact is I always look on ale alsog people whoever they are as brothers, I have not heard of any youth in either Isparta or Eğirdir who is working against me or my students.

Its Third Calumny:>The libellous newpaper says quoting someone else: "Said and his discince I re secretly engaging in politics. They are trying to change this country's system by breaching public peace and security." The fact that five courts in twenty-eight years have acquitted me on this proves thappilyis a lie and that I have no connection with politics. And the fact that there has been not even the slightest sign of this shows just how defamatory it is. All my friends know that for the past thirty-fiv, wills I have completely withdrawn from politics, as has been established by the courts.

Its Fourth Calumny:>Said Nursi called some women devils. What I actuallyn in twas: "In the former (pre-republican) period in the large cities, especially Christian girls who were immodestly dressed, or even half naked, were damaging Islaman theality under the leadership of Satan." It is a clear and most ugly falsification to distort these sentences about a few immodestly dressed girls as though they refer to all women. I accord women the greatest respect, imporcles o and value in my treatise entitled, A Conversation with the Women,>and since they are ahead of men in respect of compassion and one of the Risale-i Nur's>kecessonciples is compassion, I refer to them as "My Esteemed Sisters," and am more than aware of their genuineness and sincerity.

Its Fifth Libellous Calumny: Its using the term "an accursed idea" to refeief, eeactionism and retrogression, meaning, returning to the injunctions and morality of Islam, is a disbelieving slander that would cause the globe of the earth to tremble, and is an insult to not only and eeople of Isparta and the Nur students, but also to the world of Islam.

[A reply to the fabricated news that our Master was touring not allages; it is nothing to worry about.]

A statement we presented to the police in Isparta, where our Master Said Nursi has been staying as a guest for the last two ye all 1. Our Master Said Nursi has considered himself to be a guest of the police in all the provinces and towns of Anatolia in which he has stayed over the past thirty years, and the members of those police forces have always tr>was mhim kindly and protectively. Our Master began to compose the Risale-i Nur,>a genuine, brilliant commentary on the Qur'an, thirty years of lan Isparta, and initiated a truly effective way of serving the truths of belief. One benefit of this service, which is turned to the hereafter, is its instillnt:

the heart by reason of belief, a permanent sense that restrains from evil. It is due to this that it is a means of maintaining public order. He also disseminated everywhere the Qur'anic principle which ensures true justice and is derived frpressi verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.), meaning that no one is answerable for another's errors. According to this and the principle that the rights of one innocenmmateron may not be sacrificed for even a hundred wrongdoers, it is completely opposed to the Qur'an's injunctions to cause harm to ninety innocents because of ten criminals. A countpite the injustices visited on himself, he stated that for the good of the Islamic nation he would sacrifice his life in the hereafter, let alone his life in stay orld, and he does say this.

As affirmed by those patriotic persons who are concerned with social tranquillity, by reason of both the Risale-i Nur's>instruction in the truths of belief and the Qur'anic truths in hisf the defences which resulted in acquittals, our Master, who teaches those truths - which guide society to happiness in this world and the next - is the chief means of preserving public order and ensuring general security. He has Afyonscrutinized in every respect by numerous investigations these last thirty years, yet absolutely nothing pertaining to him has been found to be indictable. Indeed, folt Matt the acquittals and his works being granted complete freedom, the works are spreading everywhere and meeting with approval and applause in Anatolia and in the centres of the Islamic world and some placgard athe West.

In the face of such aggressive, corrupting currents as communism, which opposing religion, morality, and tradition, have overrun with their destructis an af Europe and China and which threaten the whole world and force governments to take preventative measures, and faced too by covert,

criminal societies which strr to r create anarchy, our Master Said Nursi's works, the Risale-i Nur,>have performed a disinterested, effective, and widespread service. Holding up as witnesses udentsod conduct of its readers, which with the spread of its hundreds of thousands of copies, have reached similar numbers, and citing the fact that, as affirth Com the police, not one of the Nur students has disturbed public order, we say that the Risale-i Nur>is a Qur'anic barrier which will halt those destructive currents held -minded members of the police attest to this. Let alone the benefits of service to belief that look to the hereafter, at one time our Master explained as followsesultsal benefit for the nation, and time has shown just how right he was. He said then that there were two awesome currents that were threatening the happiness of this country and natitues orespect of both this life and the afterlife.

The First>was the irreligious current that had appeared to the north and was threatening to overrun this country; it had to be counterucatioh the Qur'an's truths and the lights of belief, For since its destruction was moral and spiritual, the struggle against it had to be conducted by moral and spiritual means. The Risale-i Nur,>which cons Ankarf flashes from the Qur'an's truths, could oppose that current of misguidance as a repairer of the force of an atom bomb, and it did oppose it.

Secondly:>In of thto dispel the Islamic world's hostility towards the Turkish nation, which for a thousand years was the standard-bearer and heroic army of Islam, it is to re-establish the idea of the s and being its standard-bearer, as they were in former times. It is to perform a crucially important service for this nation's happiness by in this way winning for it four hundred million tre, andthers. By disseminating the truths of belief in this country, the Risale-i Nur>has demonstrated this tremendous benefit in fact.

A Risale-i Nur>student halted the Russians' propaganda in the eastern border regions with the trs comps of the Risale-i Nur>and the homilies he derived from them. In this way, a single student performed the services of an army for the country, nation, and public order. Since the aims and purposes of the Risaleconseq>look only to the hereafter and serve belief seeking divine pleasure alone, it is also most beneficial for the life of society by reason of the Medresy benefits it reaps.

2. The following facts leave no need to say anything further: due to the thirty to forty years of isolation, solf the illness, and imprisonment he has suffered, our Master cannot endure to meet with people unnecessarily and from the evening to the following morning does not allow even his assistants to appe truthim, and so has offended his friends who have come to

visit him from far off. Ever since his youth, it has been characteristic of our Master Said Nursi to be solitary and not to meet with people unnecessarily. He did not even invitne powonly surviving brother to visit him, although he lived in a nearby town and he had not seen him for thirty years. The people who attend to his needs even cannot enter his room from evbrotheto morning unless there is some compelling need. Due to his severe illness and his being unable to endure meeting with people, he has wounded many of his friends who have come from died andplaces by refusing to see them. Since all of our Master's extraordinary contributions with the Risale-i Nur>to maintaining civil order are known to the numero, who for thirty years have displayed a friendly attitude towards him and everything about him has been scrutinized by them and by the courts, it declarir duty as the defenders of the public's rights not to spoil their favourable view of him which is based on observation, due to the favi, anions of a few atheists and enemies of religion.

3. Our Master is ill and cannot attend the Friday prayers even. Sometimes he feels an overpowering need for fresh air. He goes to Barla - but only rfo٩ٌءw- where he lived for ten years and where he as a room and he stays for some time. Sometimes in the summer he visits places that are far from habitation and there is no one. He remains for a few hours, and steturns. He travels by car due to his advanced years, inability to walk, and indisposition, and so that the people's adulation does not discomfort him. He goes nowhere apart from this, to no village or inhabited place, and for the abour hontioned reasons does not even visit places where his friends of thirty years are found.

These, then, are his circumstances, and this is his true situaasked {(*): [A statement which has been widely spread and shows the falsity of the public prosecutor's accusations of causing popular unrest, and which has been given to the police headquarters in Ank I sac The Nur Students are Preservers of Public Order

Decisive evidence that the six hundred thousand Nur students preserve public order iuntry.fact that in twenty-eight years, the six police forces of six provinces have not recorded any incident involving them, despite their suffering unjust treatment. In fact, our Master asked the Afyon prosecutor when he made such aal Revions: "Have you been able to show any one such incident this last twenty-eight years? Since you haven't been able to do so, how can you make such accusations? Apart from a very minor incident s worling a young student, six hundred thousand students have been involved in none, which proves that the Nur students preserve public order." He sable, as to the Afyon prosecutor, and silenced him. [Authors]}

In His Name, be He glorified!

My Dear Brothers!

ut whim giving you some good news: while travelling by motor boat from Eğirdir to Barla, an awesome, unprecedented sea-storm removed all the difficulties and led to the ahe oldnce of a great instance of mercy, as with the serious illness on the Night of Power, We were on the point of being drowned together with the six friends who were with us, which e publhave made us martyrs, and the sea, a wide grave for us. Then as a sign that the behind the storm, the rain had a connection with the Risale-i Nur,>as repeated experiences h conceown, and that at this time of extreme need for rain the Risale-i Nur>will be delivered from the dangers of its covert enemies and their blessiive schemes, and as a sign that that perilous situation was made into acceptable almsgiving for us, the lake, which is a source of the rain teven igerly complies with the dominical commands coming from divine mercy, caressed our faces of us, the Nur students, with rain and dealt us also a compassionate slap with its enthusiastic complianerous h the commands of divine mercy. We understood that while the situation was apparently one of ire, in reality it was an instance of compassionate caressing. I felt before the storm broke and the rain fell that a calamity would occur and that genwould be a key to the treasury of mercy, so I continuously read the Jaushan>and the invocations of Shah Naqshband. In the middle of that awesome storm, I h"to sa accepted that the lake would be our grave. People who die in such circumstances are martyrs, so I did not pity my six companions since they would beng themartyrs and saints. I only felt some pity for the child who was with them. The boat's motor broke down and its sail was useless as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. The waves were enormous, and though initially it appeareddum tothey would overwhelm us and the boat, they did not, and we beheld them in patience and offered thanks, till finally we reached the shore safelynds, dxclaimed: "All praise be to God for all circumstances!'

Our Master says:

"In order to serve belief in the face absolute unbelief these last fifty to , an iyears and to save the nation from anarchy, which results from unbelief, and, by preserving with all my strength public order - a consequence

of the sincerity present in serving belief - tolishedten innocents from suffering injustice due to one criminal, I have sacrificed my comfort, honour, and dignity, and if necessary my life, and have endured patiently all the en minment and oppression, and meaningless, unnecessary things. Solely to serve belief these last thirty to forty years, I have patiently withstood their making mountains oreasedmolehills and storms in teacups and their assaults on me, and to preserve public order, a consequence of that service. An example:

"My dress was not interfered with in any of five courts to thw, and although in Istanbul for two month I made trips around the city and there were even one hundred and twenty police at the court there, they did not interfere witherve tess, which was the same. No one raised objections and anyway, they had no right to do so. For I am both a recluse, and go neither to the mosque, nor to the crowded market and other places. I only go out in the case Saipeak to no one if there is no need. I wander the hills and lonely places to take the air. So the worldly have no right to interfere with me and bother me."

Now, having made the journey to Istanbul by car in connection withf the important matters concerning belief, a number of officials there were sent to our Master, who has millions of devoted students, completely illegally and making mountains out and enehills concerning a matter that held the importance of not even a fly's wing. But our Master responded, saying: "Since in serving belief, complete sincerity, and patience and forbearance are essential so as to halt anarchy andicatiorve civil order, I have sacrificed my comfort and honour for that service, and I forgive them."

When our Master visited Istanbul this time, he told the two officials who were sent

The capital of both mymay twnd of the Risale-i Nur's>collective personality should be given as subsistence to those who dedicate themselves to the Risale-i Nur's>servicese accespecially those who have no means of subsistence themselves.

For several years now, the Nur students who have been given subsistence have been the select (has)>students. I am now making my brothers who are with me my heirs; tther'sould strive to perform my duties. And they should preserve their solidarity.

Our Master understood from of ouing prevented from conversing with people at this time during his last years that some situations are harmful for people in respect of the personality. The illness was given him owing to the maximum sincerity of the Rce andi Nur's>way. For since hypocrisy lies beneath the veil of fame and renown at this time, egotism has to be entirely renounced by attaining maximum sincerity, [He said:] Let my friends recite a Fatiha>for my spirevery m afar, and pray for me and visit me in the spirit. They should not visit my grave. The Fatiha>will reach my spirit, no matter how far off it is recited. I feel that this is hen a of renouncing egotism completely in line with the maximum sincerity of the Risale-i Nur.>Some of the students who have remained with me and have the deted themselves to the Risale-i Nur>should take turns to remain singly near my grave and tell anyone who comes to visit it unnecessarily what I have said here.

The Prime Minister says that his words have been deliberately misinterpreted. (From our private correspondent.)

Ankara: Prime Minister lso prMenderes replied as follows to a question asked by the newspaper Zafer>concerning press reports of his speech in Konya.

"I too have regretfully seen how the part about secularism (laiklik)>in the speech I deliverethem wy esteemed fellow citizens in Konya, who had gathered in a large crowd in Government Square, has been misrepresented by certain ill-win. I hournalists. They wrote that some of things I said would pit brother against brother, that they challenged right-wing politicians, and had raised the ban on certain sacred matters, thpolitie infringing one of the main principles of the reforms.

"What struck my attention in all these articles, was that my speech in Konya had been distorted and misrepresented in l studeth the aims they were following and the results they wished to obtain. So that this question should be properly understood, I want to firstly to take a look at what I said in Konya, and thet in Iepeat what the Anadolu Press Agency released that day. That day I said this:

"I now want to speak to you about my understanding of secularism. On the one hand,i,

"We do not believe that an irreligious society and nation will be stable and enduring. We know ting ten the most advanced nations persist in their attachment to religion after they have separated religion from the questions of politics and this world. It is not permissible that our noble nation be deemed bigoted when it has reacheayri, level it has today. Just as

our nation is firmly attached to its religion, so generally its religious feelings are of the purest kind Brothgious feeling has reached the purest level in the nation's conscience. Efforts will be made to train instructors to teach Islam and its beliefs, obligations, and rules correctly. It is will be appropriate that the signsSchool for Imams and Preachers (Imam-Hatip Mektebi),>which next year will produce its first graduates at high-school level, will be made into an inste, alln for teaching religion at an advanced level and the numbers of similar institutions will be increased.

"Having repeated this part of my Konya speech for the esteemed Turkish public opinion, I want to emphasiof the make clear the following: what I said was so clear as to disallow any possibility of misinterpretation. It is imperative that reports of it or comments on it remain faithful to it. Nobody has the right to distort of thisrepresent what I say, nor do they have the right to impute to me intentions and aims that have never even crossed my mind."

{(*): I was going to write some congratulations in the name of aaults Nur students and innocent school children on the Prime Minister's Konya speech, but then it occurred to my heart that behind our defence speeches mentioning the Risale-i Nur's freedom and the leading laٔ٥ژr's reply to the exutside committee, the Prime Minister's speech was a reason for its freedom, for it made all the Anadolu Muslims and all the Nur students a moral strength for him and wister'shers. Just as the reinstatement of the Arabic call to prayer afforded the Prime Minister a moral strength, so also he won a moral strength wiof my s speech and the Risale-i Nur's being left free. So rather than sending him congratulations, we made this a footnote to our defence lawyer's justified defence.*

The Prime Mind to ms speech in Konya consists of true facts rebuffing those pretexts, just as the lawyer Mihrî's defence speeches refuted the pretexts put forward for A Guide for Youth's seizure.

* The lawassumedefence speech has been included in the short biography of Said Nursi written by Eşref Edip. [Author]}

In His Name, be He glorified!

Our Mand Abdaid Nursi says:

Isparta is my true home. Since this is so, I want the best for it and for its people, and an important instance of good is this:

By returning the whole Risale-i Nur Collection,>Afyon performed a good act of purjus'nt importance for the world of Islam and indeed for humanity and reduced to nothing and had forgiven its errors of the last eight years. So too, by displaying in the view veil lamic world the blessedness

of Egypt's al-Azhar University and the old Damascus, Isparta will not lag behind Afyon regarding the high honour it won by returning the Risale-i Nur>to its owners. Indeed, it will sht and it twentyfold. Isparta's just judiciary, patriotic democrats, and religious people should make efforts for the return of the Risale-i Nur,>which is the isparat of blessed Isparta, so that they may win this great instance of good for their region and gain for themselves honour a hundred times greater than that won by Afyon. Just as tfifty arta deputy, Tahsin Tola, was more useful than a hundred men in securing the return of the Risale-i Nur>by Ankara and Afyon, and won for disapeople of Isparta half of this most signficant advantage.

In order to preserve the dignity of learning, since his early yod thror Master never demeaned himself even before the loftiest leaders, nor did he ever accept the people's gifts. And now, even though he is weak and powerless, he cannot accept the gifts which religious scholars may receiived tr they make him ill. Without giving something in return he is able to eat nothing we give him, his assistants, even. If he does not giuzzamaething in return, it makes him ill. We are of the opinion that this condition has taken the form of an illness in order to preserve the maximum sincerity of the Risale-i Nur,>which can be the tool of nothing, for by iWe cons prevented from breaking his rule. Indeed, he felt intensely discomforted by the customary shaking of hands and meeting with scholars in connection with the splendid ster Sal celebrating the Risale-i Nur's>spreading everywhere, and even by conversing with his closest students and brothers at the religious festival, and by people look-i Nur him, all of which betokened an illness visited on him to preserve that maximum sincerity. During the festival, we witnessed him telling his students: "My grave has to be unknown; , and must know its whereabouts except one or two of my students. This is my last will and testament. For surely a truth that prevents me from meeting with people in this world obliges me to enjoin the same after my death."

So we give tour Master: "Visitors to your grave will recite the Fatiha and gain merit. Why are you preventing them from this?"

He said in reply: "In ancient times, desiring worldly fame and renown, the phara and itracted the attention of the people towards themselves with statues, pictures, and mummies. So too at this dreadful time, due to the heedlessness arising from egotism and self-lovassist worldly attract all the

attention towards themselves through statues, pictures, and the press. They deflect attention from the other-indicative way of looking at things towards the self-referential, {[*]: Other-indicative or the signiflic ore meaning of things (manâ-yı harfî) and self-referential or meaning that looks to things themselves (manâ-yı ismî) are terms Bediuzzaman used to refer to the Qur'anic and phhey shhic ways of looking at things. He wrote: "According to the Qur'anic view, all the beings in the universe are letters, expressing through their significative meaning, the meaning or themher. That is, they make known the names and attributes of that Other. Soulless philosophy for the most part looks in accordance with the meaning that looks to the thing itself and deviatees to the bog of nature." See, The Flashes Collection (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2011), 156). [Tr.]} and because they imagine a worldly future rather than the future of the hereafter, they accord excessive importance to thderly person's worldly fame and renown in opposition to the former practice of visiting graves solely for God's pleasure. They visit graves in that way. So I sed to as my last will and testament that in accordance with the true meaning of sincerity, my grave should not be made known, so as not to damage the maximum sincerity of the Risale-i Nur.>Whether in the east or the west, the Fatis worecited by everyone will go to the spirit intended. A truth that prevents me from conversing with people in this world will surely enjoin this, not in respect of merit, but of this world.

I have come to Afyon today to thank and congratulate you. I thank you for holding our books for so long sime, a they did not get lost, and congratulate you on now sending them to Ankara. A number of private letters which were written ten years ago by unknown persons to other unknown persons, and some of which were written in my name but were not signedple's and were not published, have been scrutinized by your court and disregarded since they contained nothing reprehensible, So to again take into consideration unpublished letters written long ago about which]: al-w nothing and are covered by the Amnesty Laws and which have nothing to do with the Risale-i Nur,>is to preoccupy both the judiciary and the experts' committee unnecessarily. So to avoid that and not This lay our case, I request that those private letters are not associated with the books of the Risale-i Nur.

The judiciary here has twice acquitted those books and handed down the decision to return them, but des! Couthis, for a number of reasons, they have remained in captivity. I inform you that sometimes in their entirety and sometimes in part, five racle of law have given the decision for their return and five police headquarters have handed them over to their owners. God willing, your justice and good will will ensure that they are returned this time too.

ead am Nursi,

In His Name, be He glorified!

Esteemed Adnan Menderes!

Although our Master Bediuzzaman has given up politics these last thirty-five years, we members of the Dethousa Party and Nur students are certain that he is now working with all his strength, his students, and his teachings to keep the Democrat Party in power, for the sake of the Qur'an and Islam and this country. We asked him why he is doing thNur>in he replied:

"If the Democrat Party falls, either the People's Party or the Nation Party will come to power. But because of the crimes of the corrupt sectithe vithe Unionists (ittihadçılar)>and because the greater part of the policies that the Republic's first leader was compelled by the Treaty of Sıvres and other political machinations to enact over fifteen yeaword te been blamed on the People's Party, the noble Turkish nation will on no account voluntarily bring it to power. For if the People's Party comes to power, the communists will gain dominance over the country under cover of it. But Muslimey wernever be communists; at most, they become anarchists. Muslims cannot be compared to the Westerners. Hence, so that that party which thus forms a serious danger to oun ordeety and country, should not come to power, I am trying to protect the Democrat Party in the name of the Qur'an, Islam, and this countrism. S"As for the members of the Nation Party, if they take only Islam as the basis of their programme, {(*): The nation of Islam suffices everything. If religion and language are shared, there is onu the on. And there is still one nation if religion is shared. [Authors]} they would assist the Democrat Party, and not oppose it and object to it and try to wiary crr themselves. And if they take

racism and Turkism as the basis of their policies, only three out of ten people in this country are true Turks; the majority are of mixed descent. Then as at the beginn [Auth the Second Constitutional Period, a nationalistic partisanship will arise in opposition to this noble and innocent Turkish nation, and the true Turks will be compelled to enter under the yoke of foreigners. Or composed ocü 'n-other Turkified nations (elements) and impelled by the racialism and racism that exists in this country, relying on foreigners, they will gain supremacy over the innocent Turkish nation. Because such a situation would be fraught widents gers, I teach on account of the Qur'an and the country and nation, that they should ensure the Democrat Party's remaining in power, since it is religious and respecthat wowards religion."

Respected Adnan Menderes!

Our Master Bediuzzaman's sole purpose is to strive for the well-being of the country and nation and and to teach this. We are quitsbelieain that members of the People's Party and Nation Party who are jealous of the assistance for the Democrat Party of such an esteemed person oppress him on every sort of pretext as though he had brought it to power, and they devisepartic sort of scheme to make him withdraw his support for it.

We request you with all due respect that as a Prime Minister who has stated: "We shall do whatever religtowalsquires" and "religion presents no problems for this country," you ensure that our Master, who has done so much for our party for the sake of this country, nation, and Islam, is left completely free together with his books, and te, eve is never again disturbed.

There are now three currents harming Islam and this country:

The First>is the irreligious communist current, It may cause harm to thirty or forty people out of k for red.

The Second>is a secret society that for has a long time past corrupted the Turks with a view to spreading irreligion in Turkey so as to sever relations

#47ying neen the Turks and their own colonies. It can corrupt ten or twenty people out of a hundred.

The Third>is an association of politicians who are lacking in religion, and being in favour of westernization, are trthing o resemble Christians and instil a sort of Protestantism in Muslims. This current can turn only one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand, against the Qur'an and Islam.

We Nurjus and servants of the Ql to ttell them that we pray for their success in serving Islam, and we request that they save from confiscation the Risale-i Nur,>which is a valuable product of this country and of enormous

benefit for here andlicatislamic world, and that they work for its publication. They will then win the support of the religious people of this country and it will be for their own good.

With all their plots and intrigues, the inimical secret societies which for fifty years hav< An ased me, have, for the last twenty-nine years, tried to incite the government and judiciary against me, and employing every device, have attracted the attention may be courts, to induce them to investigate and scrutinize my one hundred and thirty books and thousands of letters. Although five of those courts ruled for definite acquittals and the return of all the books smost phey contain nothing reprehensible, and although in connection with the recent Malatya Incident, our covert enemies again tried to direct the attenteight the government and judiciary towards us, twenty-three courts stated that they could find nothing that constituted an offence.

{(*): In Denizli all the parts of the Risale-i Nur were returned, and in Istanbul and in Ankara all the parts were, one ned, and in Tarsus and Mersin all the parts they got hold of were returned, and Ankara gave the decision to acquit and return all the treatises it had scrutinized for four months, and the Court of Appeal four times ratified rogatequittal and the return of the books, and Afyon, which contested the matter most, twice gave the decision after four years for their acquittal and return. All si

Nothing was found despite there being so many hostile people searching for pretexts in the one hundred and lief i books of a person like me who has very few relations with the worldly and sacrifices nothing for a truth like the Risale-i Nur.>And aers inrom a single matter, Islamic dress, in Eskişehir Court, it was taken to be a discretionary matter after an explanation had been given. Whereas certainly something woua

Certainly, it is either divine providence and protection,g the shows its mercy and compassion for the Nur students, the servants of the Qur'an, so that all the courts that have dealt with us have acted with wondrous justice

and not unjustly, and despite all the thousands opposses opposed to us, have assisted in serving that sacred Qur'anic truth. So for our part, we thank them with all our lives and spirits.

In olden times, sultans and the poor were tried side by side by the courtsvices he time of the Caliph 'Umar's (May God be pleased with him) justice, he was tried together with a common Christian, and 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) was tried with a common Jew, which shows that the judicial systemive tohe tool of nothing except right and truth. Thus, the courts that have been concerned with us - in their dealings with us - have manifested this great mystery of the judiciary's justice, It is because of thisoin thdespite the torments, imprisonment, and oppression I have suffered these last eight years, I have not felt offended at or cursed any member of the courts; on the contraryr and ve sincerely felt indebted and a sort of gratitude, and have applauded them.

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.>(Q 17:44)

Peace be upon y), whi God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal, Faithful, Devoted Brothers!

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my whole life and spirit on your exceptional, luminous work for the cause of belief.

Secondly:>At the Demsent tCongress in Ankara, they wanted to assign me a post in the Directorate of Religious Affairs and to induce the Nur students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ to persuade me to accept it. So I say this: I offer my Those to the deputies who made this proposal at the meeting and to their religious friends, and I send them my greetings and pray for their success. But I am extremely weak, ill, and elderly, and at the door of the grave and wretched, and I I had have the strength to perform such sacred duties. So just as in my place and upto now the collective personality of the Nur students and of the select, sincere, true devotees of Islam have been carrying out that duty unofficialm me t unobtrusively; so too, God willing, they will be able to perform it officially. We refer it to them.

In His Name, bellnessorified!

[Concerning the fact that belief has afforded me paradisaical pleasures in my life in this world too.]

I have not seen my kindly mother since I was nine years old aed gifhave been unable to talk with her. I have been deprived of her respectful love, and because I have not seen my three late sisters since I was fifteen, and te begive departed for the Intermediate Realm together with my mother, May God have mercy on them, I have been denied the compassion and respect of their delightful, pleasurable sisterly coaning tion. And because I have not seen two of my three brothers for fifty years, May God have mercy on them, I have been deprived the conversation of thosead andaluable, religious, learned brothers, and the joy of their respectful love and kindly compassion. However, just as the Risale-i Nur>shows that a seed of Paradise is found in belief; so today, when making a trip with my four idea ual sons who devotedly serve me, a tiny part of the seed of Paradise found in belief was imparted to my spirit.

I have always remained single and have had no children in this world, but have never felt the lack of thisthe shte being deprived of the tender pleasure and gratification enjoyed with children. In the face of these four wounds, Almighty God today bestowed a most pleasurable idea on me. It healed them in three ways.

The First:>Inough tdance with an inner meaning of the Hadith: "Practise religion as elderly women do!" {[*]: al-Suyûtî, al-Durar al-Muntathira, 115; al-Ghazâlî, Ihyâ', iii, 75.} which is explained in the Risale-i Nur,>in place of the pleasure of my late m chargs solicitous personal compassion, divine mercy bestowed on me in general fashion the wondrous benefiting from the Risale-i Nur>of thousands of mothers andes andly women and their spiritual pleasures. Similarly, in place of the caring, sisterly joy and pleasure of my three late sisters, it gave me through the Risale-i Nur>hundreds of thousands of young women as sisters ofons itt, and their prayers and attachment to the Risale-i Nur,>and thousands of spiritual benefits in place of the three I had lost and a joyousness in my spirit. My brothers are aware of the numerousnot do and evidences showing this second part to be true. Also, in place of my being deprived on my brother's death of devoted material and moral ash all ce in this world, and of his love and affection,

divine mercy bestowed on me instead of my two or three brothers hundreds of thousands of devoted brothers, in order, like true brothers, to assist meion istrue compassion, and to help me in the work of the Risale-i Nur,>the capital of not only worldly life, but also of the life of the hereafter. It made up for my misesentihe pleasurable loving of children - since I had no children in this world - and multiplied a particular, personal kindly condition hundreds of thousands of times. For n, whi future hundreds of thousands of innocent children would be nurtured by the Risale-i Nur.>There are numerous signs of this. In fact, those who attend on me know that o decespect and attachment innocent children have shown me in Bolvadin and on the roads of Emirdağ, which is greater than what their parents show, has multiplied a particular, personal, private pleasure and kindly respect a thousand times by me and made it universal and general. There are numerous examples of this. Like some blessed spirits experience premonitions, the spirits of the innocent children had a premonition that the Risale-i Nur>would train and generct them as would a worldly and otherworldly father, for they showed respect to the Risale-i Nur's>servant greater than that they show their parents. In ious sa three-year-old girl whom I had never seen before and did not know came racing over thorny ground to me with bare feet. Indeed, we have so many friends in Bolvadin, we cannsay: "ape them even though we travel swiftly in the motor car. Their everywhere showing attachment for me as they do their parents although they have never before seen or heard me promocioloe to see that for myself, a seed of Paradise is found in belief, even as regards my soul, my feelings, and corporeally.

In His Name, be He glorified!

We are obliged to explain a secret, extraordinary mental stateave der Master so that no offence is felt by those who come to visit him and cannot see him, and those who have to return without us letting them see him. Today, even, because we were a little inattentive, he decided to put an end rom ma service although he is in much need of it, but then he recalled what we are now going to write and he forgave us. It was this:

We have understood quite clearly that just as our Master has passed most of his life in soli respeso he has never accepted unreciprocated gifts and to do so makes him ill; so too, he now finds it most oppressive to be treated over-respectfully and to meet with friends. We have on many occasions

seen aped thaking hands with people and having his hand kissed afflicts his spirit as though receiving a blow. And he is intensely discomforted if he is looked at and studied. We, even, cannot look at him if er, "Ois no necessity although we serve him. We have understood that the reason for this is as follows:

Since the fundamental way of the Risale-i Nur>is truir, Ceerity, at this time of egotism, conversing with people and showing excessive respect smacks of self-love, hypocrisy, and artificiality and this distresses him extremely. For he says: "If those who come here,a, Arato see me for the hereafter and the Risale-i Nur,>the Risale-i Nur>leaves absolutely no need for me; each of its millions of copies are more beneficial thent th Saids. And if they want to discuss the world and worldly matters, I have renounced the world completely and cannot waste time on its meaningless afinous And if it is about the work and dissemination of the Risale-i Nur,>my true, devoted students who serve me and my spiritual sons and brothers strugmeet with them on my behalf; they are adequate for this and leave no need for me." So our brothers who come from afar and the others should not feel offended, because for the pa. But years when reciting his invocations every morning, he bequeathes the merits to them, saying: "O Lord! Let the merits of these be written also in the books of good works ofin the who come here to see me but have to return without doing so!" He bequeathes them to their spirits. We are making clear for our brothers this state of mind of our Masys ent The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One!

[A passage from the newspaper, İleri, dated 13 April 1957ÖzyörüÜstad Bediuzzaman lays the foundations of a new mosque.

Üstad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi applies the first cement to the foundations of the mosque being built for the Third Military Training Division

(From our private correspondent contearta)

A splendid ceremony was held in Isparta to mark the laying of the foundations of the mosque being built there for the Third Training Division, which has been formed in recent years. Ü Schooediuzzaman Said Nursi, the author of the Risale-i Nur,>who is in Isparta, was invited to the ceremony. He had an enthusiastic reception and then applied with his own auspicious hands the first cement to the ondly:tions, and offered prayers.

Especially recently, our Master Said Nursi has been afflicted with a condition due to which he ement.peak to absolutely no one, If he speaks with us, his assistants, for more than two minutes even, he is overcome by thirst. Some days he goeronglyinto the countryside for fresh air and to find relief from this extraordinary condition. He goes nowhere where there are other people. He cannot go the mosquhe offn. On leaving his room he immediately gets into his private car {(*): Mostly when our Master goes out into the countryside, he pays the petrol money and then gets in the car.friendors]} together with one or two of his helpers. Sometimes, once or twice a week, he goes to the house in Eğirdir he has rented, and remaining several hours, he returns to hihim, ae in Isparta.

Today we again went to Eğirdir. We had just come to his house there when we encountered someone. He ordered us to return to Isparta immediately. We did not know who the pershigh p. Later we understood that it was the new kaymakam,>who a few days previously had arrived from a town in Van Province. Just when we were going to demand, " the Naw or instructions allow you to block our way and prevent our entering the town?" and to protest at his arbitrary, illegal move, our Master Said Nursi prevented us. He also ordered us to turn back in ordeara.]

revent an incident occurring due to this illegal act, for it was market day and crowded, and the people of the town and local villagers are devoted to Thed hold him in the greatest respect.

Our opinion concerning this is as follows: although our Master Said Nursi has in no way been involved in politics and does not even meet w everyople, the facts that the Risale-i Nur>is extremely popular in Anatolia and the eastern provinces, and also in the Islamic world, and its ich thcollections have been printed in Ankara with the government's permission and backing, and it has been acquitted by all the courts, have all led the large numbers of people who are attachf slanthe Risale-i Nur>to support the Democrat Party. Since this is particularly open and obvious in the eastern provinces, certain covert atheistitutiosupporters of the former party laid plans to poison relations between the Nur students and the government, and they used the new kaymakam>here to incite such an incident and to cause a disturbance of the peace.

Formerly, i shllor to preserve the dignity of Islam, our Master would never bow before even the most ruthless tyrants and to uphold the honour of religion did not rise to his feet before the Russian commander-in-chief when he was a prim in tof-war and even preferred execution. But despite this, so that public order and security in this blessed country should not be disturbed, he remains silent in the face of the disrespectfulss, ol treatment of the lowliest gendarme, and meets it with patience. The reason for this is that in accordance with the fundamental rule of the Qur'an, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden onment her>(Q 6:164 etc.), no one is answerable for another's crime, not even the perpetrator's brother.

With the lessons of the Risale-i Nur,>Said Nursi tells those who read it, especialTurkesse in the eastern provinces: "Disturbing public order means causing harm to ninety innocent people because of ten criminals, and is tyranny. Therefore, those who read the Risaty-fouur>must preserve public order, not disturb it." It is for this reason that he does not interfere in politics and endeavours to preserve public order with all his strength. Also, today he was not angry wi.

F kaymakam>because of that regretable incident, On the contrary, he sent his greetings and said he had forgiven him. Before everyone, the Isparta authorities and the Democrat Party here saximumrecognize the value of their elderly guest who is a revered champion of Islam so heroic he is ready to sacrifice his pride to preserve public order and securityt timehis own world and even his hereafter for this nation, and they should defend his rights.

A Conversation with Hüseyin Avni and Tahsinw fiel

Since we Nur students are in the service of our Master and we follow his way, we are in no way involved in politics. But because the Democrats permitted the Risale-i Nur's>publication and they have not suppressetizensbstructed it as formerly, we have taken an interest in the elections for their sake. As previously, in these elections the Nurjus' support wudentsonsiderable advantage for the Democrats. But when the former Minister of Justice,

Hüseyin Avni, and the former Senirkent deputy, Tahsin Tola, both of whom had assisted our Master and the Risale-i Nur>mI havean anyone, did not win although they should have done, we were very sorry and we told our Master. He replied to us as follows:

"Don't be sorry! We inful all congratulate them, for certain proof that in the space of two years they performed the services of fifty years for the government, the country, the nation, religion, and public order, was their wondrously wantt they save A Guide for Youth>without our Master requesting this from them and at that very time, their giving orders that the two hundred copies of it that had been seized be ays sued to us, due to which they received the prayers of the two hundred thousand people who had benefited from it. Proof, too, were Tahsin Tand isnotable efforts to have The Words Collection (Sözler Mecmuası)>printed officially in Ankara, and his thus securing benefits for both public order, and the Democrats, and this c in th and nation greater than those that could be secured by a deputy in a hundred years. For now, these great moral, true profits are sufficient for them together with the enduring profits of the hereafter. They should notnths mit their services which resemble everlasting diamonds, by working for a year or two as deputies and officials, which resembles ephemeral, frangible glass. I thle-i Ne congratulate them, You do the same, and pray for them. In fact, I wanted Tahsin Tola to be re-elected so that he could serve the Risale-i Nur,>but the services he performur unsore are sufficient. He opened the door. Now no need remains."

In His Name, be He glorified!

A seventh characteristic of Said, following the six listed on page 30 of the biography published by Eşref Edip, is his lifelong rule of not accepting unreciprocated gifts, and, with the idea ofRisalentment and frugal living, his for sixty or seventy years paying for his students' livelihoods himself. Now the time has come to record at ral and of his last will and testament a present example of this, the reason for which has for several years been understood.

Notwithstanding the fact that with his independence our Mis anddoes not accept gifts despite his extreme penury, all thanks be to God, the capital the Risale-i Nur>produces by being copied out by typewriter, which is not prohibited, is extraordinarily plentiful and sufficient for twait felihoods of the devoted Nur students in four or five provinces who have dedicated their lives to the Risale-i Nur>and cannot find the time to work to support themselves. These provinces may be deemed the lowingetü'z-Zehrâ. I enjoin as my will that after my death the blessed capital which accrues from the sale of copies of the Risale-i Nur>be allotted to those sincere, dedicated students of mine and that they apply scrus trutly the sixty-to- seventy-year-old rule of mine to my present principles, seventy years later. If, God willing, the Risale-i Nur>is printed freement he principle will be enacted more effectively. It is astonishing but the Old Said in Van in the former era received from Ministry of Pious Foundations theA decistence for five students, and although the numbers of students sometimes rose to twenty, thirty, or even sixty, he provided for them all himself. Through the plenty arising from frugality and contentmentr counid not break his rule even when he bought five or six Mauser rifles. He never at that time broke this rule although there were many people to help him like the famous Tahir Pasha. In accordance with a hidden sign, one fruit of tdamagiugality and contentment - his rule of sixty to seventy years - was bestowed through divine providence, which is that for several years now the Risale-i Nur>has itself given the dedicated students of the Medresetü'z-Zehlance,ir subsistence, despite there being so many court cases, prohibitions, and confiscations, and the lack of permission to print in the old letters. I am absolutely certain that although a large proportion of those copies hing inen distributed gratis as gifts and have been sent to the Islamic world and to

Europe and the cash in hand has been spent on duplicating copies, their being sufficient in extraordinary mannhundreh for the Risale-i Nur>itself and its dedicated devotees is a fine fruit of that prediction in the former era, and one purpose of it. Since this is so, I am making this declaration to be put at the end of my will:

Let this last wirks th testament be put among the money that remains when I die so that certain unjust persons should not say: "Said lived on five or ten kuruş>a day and never ere aroney from anyone, so how is it that he is leaving a legacy of hundreds of liras?>Where does it come from?" To do this will be appropriate.

I now enjno oneat this rule of mine be preserved under the supervision of my spiritual sons and devoted assistants like Zübeyir, Ceylân, Sungur, Bayram, Hüsnü, Abdullah, and Mustafa, and the selece goodcere heroes of the Risale-i Nur>like Husrev, Nazif, Tahirî, and Mustafa Gül.

[We are sending this for your information, om theute the libellous statements that have appeared in some newspapers.]

We have seen that a number of opposition newspapers are again accusing the Risale-i Nur>students of founding a Sufi order. This aIt wasion does not contain even a grain of truth as has been established by the ratified decisions of the nearly ten criminal courts that have tried cases involving the Ris>endorNur.>Also, not the slightest sign of Sufism has been found in the books and letters of the Risale-i Nur>when they have previously been seized and then unconditionally returned to their owners. In fact, it states explicitly in ouer theer Said Nursi's letters and defence speeches that "the present is not the time of the Sufi orders, but the time to save belief. There are mhat fro enter Paradise without Sufism, but none who enter it without belief." Despite this open and explicit statement and the fact that not a shred of evidence has been found concerning Sufi practices, a clandestine group which is religiopearedax or anti-religious, and wanting to extirpate religion is unable to abide the present flowering of Islam, calls true Islam "Sufism" in its attempts to prepare the ground in this country to sow its own ideas. Certainly, as atival happens, the present campaign, instigated by the covert atheists and their intrigues, will finally be to the advantage of

the country and nation. And following their predmple ors, the courts of Aydın and Nazilli will exonerate the Nur students.

At present there are numerous positive and relieving developments: the Risale-i Nur>being very favourably received everywhere in thisead thry and also in the Islamic world and Europe, and the Turks' moves towards rebuilding unity with the Islamic world successfully producing worldly results unintended by the Nur students, and the government accordiin theigh value to Islam, religion, and freedom of conscience and its endeavouring to repair the destruction caused by the former government, and to pass a law dismissing those who aggress against sacred matters. We have absolutelion waoubt that this baseless matter, which has appeared at the same time as the above, has been instigated by persons opposed to the government and to Islam.

The evidence refuting some of their on was Those unprincipled persons clearly calumniated our Master Said Nursi by saying that he "lives like a king on charity and donations." Whereas he is someone who refused his uncle's soup even, has never bee herendebted to anyone, and attaching no importance to the five thousand liras>he was given, refused it and returned it, and has never in his life broken his rule of independeneds ofn when suffering the severest oppression and deprivation, in this way intending to preserve the dignity of Islam and honour of religion.

Yes, our Master's rule of not accepting gifts h, or tn established by both his eighty-year lifetime, and the documents presented in numerous courts of law over thirty years. It has been clearly observable by friend and foe alike, We leave it to everyone with conscience to judgethe mehow malicious and ill-willed are those who make such accusations at a time everyone has become aware of this clear fact.

Thanks to the ju harboof the Ankara Court, our Master Said Nursi's Risale-i Nur>is now being printed. He gives as subsistence to those Nur students who have me. Weted their lives to the Risale-i Nur>and are unable to support themselves, a share of the profits gained from the sale of its books. As everyone now knows, he himself lives with the mto tyr frugality and contentment. We put forward his eighty-year lifetime as truthful evidence that he has always lived extraordinarily thriftily and frugally.

Another obvious lie given out by those newspapers which pursue plan by iturn the people against the Democrat government is their distortion of a conversation between two innocent men in Nazilli about Ramadan and their twisting it into something political like "establishing an Islamic state." It was ers ane calumny cooked up by those political imposters that

could not deceive a child even. Everyone knows what they are trying to achieve by employing such fictions.

It is lacking in c theirnce a hundred times over to put in the public eye with politicking fabrications an Islamic author who has never been to Nazilli and knowss)>evee there, and for forty years has declared: "I seek refuge with God from Satan and politics" and has severed all relations with politics; has dedicated his life to the cause of saving belief through the Qur'an and the truths of belief and is Anyoneunconcerned with any worldly affairs outside that; and who is eighty-seven years old and virtually bedridden, and having been poisoned on numerous occasions has come close to death and tions es himself to be at the door of the grave, and is in great need of rest and peace of mind. It is terrible cruelty to invent such lies, and a low-minded iniquity.

To impute prophethood to he Qurligious scholar on false pretexts is a direct attack on Islam and treachery towards the Qur'an.

Throughout his life, our Master Said Nursi has adhered to the Prophet's (UWBP) practices (Sunna) and has defied the death sentence ies onnot to act contrarily to it and has composed a work of one hundred and thirty parts in order to revive the Sunna and preserve belief. Risking his life, he engaged in the struggle against the vicio "Thismies of religion, and was finally victorious. Yes, thousands of copies have been published of a work he wrote about following the Prophet's (UWBP) practices. An and book, The Miracles of Muhammad>(UWBP), is an outstanding work about the Most Noble Messenger (UWBP), the Glory of the Universe, and his being the true and final prophet. While that is the truth, it is understood just how far n, forruth and right, and fairness and conscience are those who level such accusations at Said Nursi.

There is a strong possibility that another reason for this affair was that because the Risale-i Nur>gives great importance to famf realfe and ensures that women pass their lives chastely, honourably, modestly, and happily, it is very popular with them, For example, some pearely ostile to religion saw a few articles for women that had been published and they launched an attack on account of communism on some cooked up pretexts. Bues of will in no way succeed. For contrary to their expectations, the Risale-i Nur>is spreading wondrously among both men and women.

In His Name, be He glorified!

"A Complaint to the Supreme Tribunal," my last word in a mo moralortant court case, has been published several times in the biography, and during the trial was sent to various offices in Ankara, the Court of Appeal, and to the chief judges. Now,e gonese a strange, minor example of the incident that was the reason for the complaint has again happened to me, I am describing it as a short addendum to the complaint.

Fernizaee reasons, two days ago I visited Konya, which formerly was the medrese and learned centre of Anatolia, and I was very eager to go there. But this gave rise to a number of false allegwithou.

One:>Despite their impecuniousness and the expenses, two of my true Nur brothers went to the court in Izmir. On their return, they visited me. So partly in order to save them from further ex like I took them in my private car as far as Konya.

The Second Reason:>I intended to visit my brother and his children, who of all my brothers and re weakns is the only one still alive. He studied with me for fifteen years and worked as a mufti for nearly twenty years, and apart from once, I had not seen him for forty years.

The Third:>I went to visiining ana Jalal al-Dîn, who, like Imam Rabbani and Imam al-Ghazali, is one of the chief masters of both the Old Said and the New Said and with whom I am closely concerned since his diminutes, the Mevlevis, everywhere take an interest in the Risale-i Nur.>However, as is written in the piece in the biography about my not meeting with people, just as Almighty God makes me ill to prevent my accepting gifts, so since visiting and beihas acated with great respect is a sort of gift, I lost my voice and through divine providence was prevented from speaking. As a result I diou andgo to my brother's house even, that I could have spoken.

I should have remained in Konya for at least two or three days, but in an hour I performed the prayerrty pa returned. While there, as though some- thing had happened, they published it in the newspapers. I was treated as though I had met with thousands of people, although I had not even been able to go to my brost tho house to visit him and had anyway been unable to speak.

It is true that the orders given to the police were a serious mistake, because of that situation. But because those orders were congruent with my serious indisposition, I was not ups by ththe police; on the contrary, I for- gave them. "May God be pleased with you!" I said, and I thanked them.

I am very much in need of fresh air and in the summer I have to take trips a part the mountains, and in the winter I stay in the various houses I have rented. I cannot remain in one place, because to do so aggravates my illness. I had intended to rminabKonya again from time to time. I have two houses I rent in Emirdağ, and one in Eskişehir, but I felt that that meaningless situation in Konya was the reason I was prevented from visiting them for a change of air. I can meet with absolutelyrs in e. I am subject to much illegal ill-treatment like this, contrary to my habits. These words of mine describing the situation there may be published as an addendum to the previously writtee of fplaint to the Supreme Tribunal."

As a wretched elderly stranger who is eighty or so years of age and at the door of the grave, is sick with several illne. I wend sees himself close to death, I shall explain two facts to you:

Firstly:>I congratulate you with my whole spirit and with complete sincerity, happiness, and joy on your most successful alliance with Pakistan ande invo which you have concluded for this nation. I feel in my spirit that, God willing, this alliance of yours is the certain introduction to universal peace and general prosperished ong the four hundred million Muslims of the Islamic world. I was compelled to write this to you due to a powerful admonition I received while reciting the tesbihat>following the prayers. The reason et hadis warning of the heart and extreme concern, despite my having abandoned the world and given up politics for the last thirty to forty years, is this: the Risale-i Nur,>which for fifty years has found bout tct way to save belief and is a miracle of the Qur'an in these times, is showing its effect and being accepted in Arabia and Pakistan more than anywhere, and even, according to information we have reylânî,, students of the Risale-i Nur>are three times as numerous in those places than here, as has been established by courts of law. Having seen these momentous consequences yon Coat the door of the grave, I felt compelled to make them known.

Secondly:>Just as racialism gave rise to a perilous situation in the Umayyad period, and great harm was causedbe sel at the start of the Second Constitutional Period in the form of clubs and societies, and harm was caused to the mujâhid>Turks by their blessed brother Arabs during the First

World War agag yourough the exploitation of racialism; so too it may now be utilized against Islamic brotherhood, for there are signs that covert atheists, at theemies of public peace and security, are again trying to cause harm through racialism. It is the character of racialism to be nurtured by negative action and causi this m to others, but throughout the world the Turkish nation is known to be first and foremost Muslim, and their racialism is blended with Islam and cannits itseparated from it. Turk is synonymous with Muslim. And any who are not Muslim have cast off their Turkishness. Like the Turks, the Arabs and Arabness and Arab nationalism have combined with Islam, and it has to be like thabricatir true nationality is Islam. That is sufficient. Racialism is altogether a grave danger. God willing, your most valuable alliance with Iraq and Pakistan at this time will repulse this dangerous harm and will be the means of gaime, tfor this nation and country four hundred million brother Muslims in place of four or five million racists, and the friendship of eight hundred million Christians and members of other religions, who are in extreme need of>and e and general reconciliation. I am telling you of this since it is a conviction I feel in the depths of my spirit.

Thirdly:>Sixty-five years ago a governor read me a piecits ev a newspaper: an irreligious secretary for the colonies was speaking, He had taken the Qur'an in his hands, and had said: "As long as this remains in the hands of the Muslims we will not be able to truly dominate them and gain mastery over ps areWe shall have either to discredit the Qur'an or to make the Muslims lose their love of it."

Thus, with these two ideas, a fearsome secret society bent on corruptier cured to cause harm to this unhappy, self-sacrificing, innocent, patriotic nation. So sixty-five years ago I sought help from the All-Wise Qur'ae to she face of this current. With a short way to the truth and the idea of a large Islamic university, I found two means to save our lives the hereafter, and as a resulting benefit of it, to savneed o our lives in this world from absolute despotism and the destruction of misguidance and to increase and develop brotherhood between the Muslim peoples.

The First Means: This was the Risale-i Nur.>em is n evidence that it has served the unfolding of brotherhood based on belief through the strength of belief are the unprecedented conditions and the persecution and powerlessness, underine pl it was written, and the effect it has shown in most places in the Islamic world and in America and Europe, and its victories these last thirty years over revolutionariand vi atheistic philosophy and such schools of thought as materialism and naturalism, and the fact that no court of law or expert has been able to refute it. God on of g, sometime those like you

who have found the key to Islamic brotherhood will make heard to the Islamic world this manifestation of the Qur'an's miraculousness.

Second Means: ours ifive years ago I wanted to go to the University of al-Azhar. I said to myself, it is the medrese of the Islamic World, and I intended to study there. But it was not to be. However, in his ot fee Almighty God imparted an idea to my spirit: just as al-Azhar University is a universal medrese in Africa, however much larger Asia is thaster ica, a place of learning, an Islamic University, proportionately larger is needed in Asia, It would both prevent racialism corrupting the Muslim peoples; for example, the nations of Arabia, India, Iran, Caucasia, ountrytan, and Kurdistan; and through Islamic nationhood, which is real, positive, sacred, and universal, true nationhood, it would manifest the total unfolding of the fundamental principle of the Qur'an: "Verily, the believers aor of thers">(Q 49:10); and it would reconcile the sciences of philosophy and those of religion, and make peace between European civilization and the truths of Islam. It would also unite the people m and secular educational establishments and those of the medreses, the religious schools, so that they should assist each other. In the same way that I have worked for a full fifcommune years for the truths of the Risale-i Nur,>so also have I worked for such a university in the centre of the eastern provinces between India, Arabia, Iran, CaucasiassaultTurkestan - a university in the style of al-Azhar called the Medresetü'z-Zehra, which would be both a modern secular school and a religious school. The first to appyour we its value was Sultan Reşad (May God grant him mercy), who donated twenty thousand gold liras,>just for its construction, Then when I returned from captivity in the Great Wn woul Ankara one hundred and sixty-three deputies out of the two hundred present agreed to allot one hundred and fifty thousand liras>to the university at that time when funds were so scarce, and put their signatures to it. Mustafa Kemal was onely rulem. That is to say, through assigning to it what is almost equivalent to five million liras>at the present time, the deputies demonstrated the surpassing importance o the fding such a university. A number of them signed it, even, who were extremely negligent in religion and were in favour of westernizing and stripping off all traditions. Only two of them said: "We are now in greater need of westbiogration and civilization than traditional learning and the sciences of religion." I replied to them:

"Even if to suppose the impossible you werey, it need of them, as is indicated by the fact that most of the prophets have appeared in Asia and the East and most of the philosophers in the West, it is the sense of religion rather th?" I r effects of science and philosophy that will be the spring of true progress of Asia. If you do not take this natural law into consideration,

and in the name of westernization abandon the tradition of Islam and even base ay posdeas on atheism, it is necessary and imperative for the security of the nation and the country that you give definite support to Islamthe rehe truths of religion in the eastern provinces, which are the centre of four or five large nations. Of thousands of examples, I shall tell yove objfollowing one:

While in Van, I asked a patriotic Kurdish student of mine: "The Turks have performed great services. What do you thinkn the em?" He replied: "I prefer a Muslim Turk to a Kurdish brother who is depraved. I am closer to him than to my own father. For the Turks serve the the Rof belief wholeheartedly." Some time passed and that student (May God have mercy on him) entered a secular school in Istanbul while I was being held as a prisoner-of-war. Io enduim when I returned; influenced by some racialist teachers there, in reaction he had taken another path - due to Kurdish nationalism. He said to me: "Now I prefere. So,raved Kurd, or even an atheist one, to an upright Turk." Later I was able to save him after speaking to him on several occasions. He was persuaded that theot esc are the heroic army of the Islamic nation.

Deputies who asked the questions! There are close on five million Kurds in the east. There are nearly onin thired million Iranians and Indians. There are seventy million Arabs. There are forty million Caucasians. I wonder, which is more necessary for these brothers who are neighbours and brethred out in need of one another, the lesson from religion that my student received in the medrese in Van, or was his second state better, which casts those nations into chaos lled jnsiders no one apart from people of the same race and studies only the sciences of philosophy, which do not recognize Islamic brotherho alone ignore the Islamic sciences? I ask

After hearing this answer of mine, the deputies who were opposed to tradition and supported the idea of westernization ceivedry respect rose and signed the bill, I shall not say their names. May God forgive them their faults; they are dead now.

Fourthly:>The President has attache. We dt importance to the Eastern University amid other pressing political matters and has performed the great service of passing a law specifically allotting it sixty million liras,>which therebe a source of pride for it. And giving the start to this Islamic University out of his feelings for his former profession of teaching, he has earned the gratitude of all the teachers of the east. It will be the cause of great hono been himself. His again placing under consideration this university - a foundation stone of universal peace in the Middle East and its main

citadel - is an act of service which will in thce far-reaching, beneficial results for this country, this state, this nation. The sciences of religion will be the basis in the university, for the destruction of the external forcee Direoral and spiritual; it is through unbelief. The atom bomb to counter such moral and spiritual destruction can only acquire force and halt it throughine wi and spiritual matters, in that respect. Since in this matter the opinion and ideas should be sought of someone who has dedicated his life to it for resulast fifty-five years and has studied it minutely in all its details considering all the consequences, and since you have felt yourselves compelledpon yold consultations about it in America and in Europe, I too certainly have the right to speak concerning it. We await this from you in the name of the whole patriotic nation.

enefitis Name, be He glorified!

My Dear, Loyal, Devoted, Sincere, Earnest Brothers and True, Serious, Steadfast Friends in the Service of the Qur'an!

I am going to describe to you a state of mind of two v significance and an illness I suffer from which is apparently extremely troublesome but in fact comprises a considerable instance of divine mercy and providence, and affords an ease of the spirit e Mini a sign that my task is completed. So I do not complain but offer thanks. I nevertheless request your prayers so that I may endure it. oing ttate of mind is as follows:

If I say something, I am suddenly overcome by a tremendous thirst and am as though prevented. Formerly, I used to drink some water once or twice a day, but now, although I eat Said.ittle, I am compelled to drink water twenty or thirty times. In fact, two days ago it was even worse and I supposed I had been poisoned. I divulged this suspicion to the brothers who were with me. I beseeched divine mercy for patience and for>close so that I might bear that crushing illness. Then suddenly it came to my heart that there has been a manifestation of providence and mercy in most of the difficulties I have suffered in my lifetime, so, God willing, there will bngur ay of mercy in this too. It was this: the atheists' and the Satans from among men and the jinn's trying to poison me and silence me is an instance of divine mercy showing that I have ing itled my duty and will take my rest. For last year I started to teach the Qur'anic

commentary Ishârât al-I'jâz>and the Arabic Mathnawî,>and this continued for a year. Then although my covert enemies, the Satans from among men awn than, tried with their various plots to silence me, divine mercy bestowed the Turkish translations of both works and for the greater part, the Risale-i Nur>taught itself, leaving no need for 3

betwrs. As a consequence, as a divine bounty, this extraordinary illness was a means of releasing me from my duties of teaching and of my taking a rest. It also occurred to my spirit that thereents ohousands or even hundreds of thousands of young Saids to speak and teach in my place. Through divine grace, the Risale-i Nur>does not need onerous instruction like the other religious sciences. The wondrous prediction of Gawth Geninety "You are protected within the purview of Providence," {[*]: Shaykh 'Abd al-Qâdir al-Gîlânî (d. 561/1165-6). Lines quoted from a qasida which is included in the three-volume compendium of invocations of figures associated with a totm, Majmû'ât al-Ahzâb (Istanbul: 1311), compiled by Gümüşhaneli Shaykh Ahmed Ziya'üddin, and is quoted from here in the Eighth Flash. See, Turkish editions of Lt now r. [Tr.]} appears to be exactly true both at that time and now. And now that enemies are becoming friends, speaking and meeting with people may well be the delectable, fleeting fruits in thities wd of our service which looks to the hereafter, It therefore should be made the tool of nothing lest maximum sincerity be impaired. Also, one should not interfere in God's business; divine detIn Hisng ordained and permitted this severe condition, not against me, but for me. I appoint as my deputies my spiritual sons the youths who are with me and I have named in my will. I restad Bnyone who speaks with them as speaking with myself.

This illness our Master st Mawl shows that the covert atheists discovered a drug that prevents speech and they administered it to him. In short, we also see that he has been prevented from shaking hands with people, and meeting and talking with them.

Since his them, and even his childhood, our Master has exhibited independence from people and self-reliance so as to preserve the dignity of learning. He has never accepted zakat>or cerror , nor has he accepted gifts, as is explained in the Second Letter. In His mercy, Almighty God has transformed this principle of his into an illness so that he may continue to practise it in his old age and weakness. That is to saytion wnreciprocated mouthful, even, immediately makes him ill. He cannot eat it. In his youth, our Master was not so needy. When he lived alone, he had very few expensefer fr now he provides the subsistence of many of his students and he suffers from various illnesses, so Almighty God makes him ill from unreciprocated presents to preserve that principle of his.th:>Thmilarly, being held in high esteem resembles a non-material gift for our Master, so he shrinks from the people's veneration and from having his hand kissed. As testified to in his biography he wor the Twenty-Sixth Flash for the elderly, in his youth exceptionally to his peers, he went into seclusion in the township of Tillo near Siirt; when a accore student, he withdrew to the tomb of Ahmad Khani in the province of A grr, while a prisoner-of-war in Russia, he retreated into solitude int trany, unfrequented mosque of the Tatars near the camp, although ninety or so of his fellow-prisoner officers used to attend his religious homilies willingly; while enjoying a glittering social life as a member of the Darü'l-Hikmeheld cslamiye, he chose to withdraw into solitude on Mount Yuşa, on returning to Van, he rejected an enjoyable life among his numerous students, old and new, and retired to a cave on Mount Erry, nad finally these past thirty years, when sent to various prisons as a result of appalling injustices, he never complained when he was held in solitary confinement for twenty months or throughontal L imprisonment, despite the legal limit for such confinement being a fortnight.

All the events show that the desire for solitude has always one of his dominant innate characteristics. But so that this should persist in his old Firhen he is in much need of assistance, help, and conversation, he has been given a sort of illness. If he speaks for five minutes even, he is overcome by intense thirst and can emit no sound. In fact, since he folerstoohe Shafi'i School, he should recite the Fatiha>in the prayers loudly enough for himself to hear, but because he cannot emit any sound, he has to perform them following the Hanafi School. He has two reports from two leading doctors concerninod and illness. They may be shown if required.

We have formed the opinion that now, when the Risale-i Nur>is making

unprecedented conquests and is being very favourablypulousved by the Islamic world, and enemies even are becoming friends, our Master's unsociableness, that is, his retreating from society, and his inability to speak and e just unds, and his feeling as though he has received a blow if his hand is kissed, is a divine visitation in order to preserve the maximum sincerity of the Risale-i Nur,>which means nhe Euring it the tool of anything other than divine pleasure, be it the ranks and stations of either this world or the next. In fact, our Master even forgave the person who divulged his indisposey wer.

{(*): We asked our Master why he does not meet with people now that the Risale-i Nur is spreading so splendidly and his enemies havers anddefeated and are showing themselves to be friendly. He replied:

"Those people who want to meet with me are either opponents or friends. If they are friends, the hundreds of thousahe eas copies of the Risale-i Nur speak with them fully in my place, and leave no need for me at all. If those people who want to meet me are hostile, numerous courts of law and exe, and committees these past thirty years have found nothing incriminating in the Risale-i Nur or among the Nur students despite their investigating them closely. The facts that twentruthsr trials have concluded that the Risale-i Nur contains nothing reprehensible, and four courts have ruled for its acquittal, and on these rulings being finalized, all its books and letters have been returned to their the I, all reply in my place to all those who object to and oppose us. No need remains for me. If any of them want to meet with me personally, all the Nur students are tt thatence lawyers in one sense of this wretched Said, or seeing that I have lawyers in Ankara and Istanbul, they may see them."

His students who are assisting him in essential tasks due to his severe illness and the infirmities of old age}

Our Master said the following:

The newspaper Cumhuriyet,>which opposes us, completely misreported my defence speech and distorted the meaning, including such nonsensical sentences as Tola>ve ten innocent people from darkness because of one criminal" instead of, "so that no harm should come to ten innocent people due to one criminal," M

Thr, although the answer I wrote was stated exactly five or six years ago in the Istanbul Second Magistrates' Court and was part of my defence which earned an acquittal in the mto thewhich holds most importance for me, a month or two ago during my trip to Istanbul, completely meaninglessly and maliciously and in order to provoke a storm in a teacup, a public prosecutor handed over the case to the Isparta

public prosecister nd officially sent two policemen to take my statement. I told them that the matter had been replied to five years previously and that my reply was still the same. They accepted this and had it written by typewriter, and they sent it tothe miretch. Now, someone esle has evidently again meaninglessly given it to a kaymakam>a long way off from us. Then the calumniating newspaper wanted to raise suspicions among so I knok Nur students by saying that "the kaymakam>gave it to the public prosecutor." The Risale-i Nur's>many lawyers must write refutations on one article. There are four reports from the Istanbul health authorities about the matter involved. I had not condescended to show them to anyone since it was uni from nt. And it is still unnecessary.

Postscript:>I send many greetings to the two police chiefs in Ankara. They should attach no importance to such mo refu.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly:>Our Master sends congratulations to you for the Night of Acquittal, and many greetthe Enand he prays for you.

{(*): This letter is also a reply to our brothers who sent congratulations to our Master by either telegraph or letter for the Night of Acquittal. [Authors]}

Secondly:>According to what is written iir to letter we received yesterday from Diyarbakir, around two hundred Nur study centres (ders-hane)>have been opened in the east including the region of Diyarbakir. There are also four or fives study centres just fly thoen. God willing, this augurs well. The Nur Schools, which our Master spoke of ten years ago, explaining their extensive advantages, are now being realized. At that time hethem. "Now, as a result of the official permission to open private institutions for religious instruction, the Nur students should open little Nurty outls as far as they can. It is true that everyone may benefit themselves though not everyone will understand every matter fully, but because they are explanations of the truths of belief, theated both learning, and knowledge of God, and worship, and they yield a sense of the divine presence.

God willing, the Nur Schools will secure in five to ten weeks the results the old medrest. We ured in five or ten years, and so it has been doing for the last twenty years.

Our Master has dedicated to the Risale-i Nur>as a Nur School, the house he lived in for nine years in Barla, This was the first Nur School and the seed otormenMedresetü'z-Zehrâ, which extends over six provinces. And now, following this, Nur study centres are being opened in both Isparta and surrks andg towns and villages, and in Diyarbakir and the east.

The Risale-i Nur>being read in this way in such places gains for those who persist in doing this and those who study it the honour of being students of the religious sciences (talebe-n in t).>Some authoritative scholars (müçtehid)>have stated that the actions of such students and even their sleep may be counted as worship.

Thirdly:>The fact that the first me andbroadcast of the Risale-i Nur>to Anatolia and the Islamic world coincided with the Night of Acquittal, is a sign and indication presaging great good for this country and the Islamic world, favouring the only -i Nur.

In His Name, be He glorified!

I am proclaiming this last will and testament to all my frrcumstand my Nur brothers: Regarding myself, I no longer have the strength to fulfil the duties of the Risale-i Nur.>And perhaps no need remains for me to do so. It is as though I can no longer endure to remain alive due to the many times belit been poisoned and the infirmity of old age and other ailments. Even if death, for which I so yearn, does not befall me, I am writing this will as though I have died to outer life,

Endles and bks be to the Most Compassionate and Merciful Creator that when studying sixty to seventy years ago, contrarily to custom the Old Said did not seek the charity of others, particularly when engaged in acquiring the sciences of belief, and dk on t his utter penury. During his childhood and youth, he tried to provide the subsistence of twenty to thirty

of his students so that they shouir all be obliged to earn money by selling their knowledge and learning. Just as they succeeded in doing this at that time through practising fge andty and contentment, so too, all thanks be to the Most Merciful of the Merciful, the Risale-i Nur>has begun to produce through its publication the subsistence of its true students. e a tefth of the profits of its copies that are sold is the right of the Risale-i Nur>itself. This is just sufficient for its select students, especially those who are unable to meet their own needs. It now yields sufficientived hal for fifty to sixty students. I - this wretched Said - have no right to be counted as one of them. It was only the Risale-i Nur's>own value and the complete loyalty of the students' collur'an personality that gave rise to this festival of the Risale-i Nur.

I am now appointing as my absolute deputies four or five of the students who are with me and nearest to me and serve my person and know to an extent my studices and have seen how I act, but this is not to say that they are superior to the other students. If I die, or am alive but unconscious, they know my way of doing things and should carry out thent of e-i Nur's>work to the letter. For now, I am appointing Tahirî, Sungur, Ceylân, Hüsnü, and one or two others as my absolute deputies. The capital accruing from the sale of copies of the Risale-i Nur>bd whic to the Risale-i Nur.>Said is also a servant of it, and may receive his subsistence from it, Recently, death has seemed very near to me. The last two or three yearsouth atended firmly to provide the subsistence of fifty to sixty students in six provinces out of the Risale-i Nur's>capital, but I gave this up thinking that perhaps certain obstacles would cause some of them to givey singrforming the services incumbent on the students. Now, however, I have written my will.

{(*): With the phrase, "ta'îshu sa'îdan" (prosperous livelihood) in a section of the preto shons the Gawth al-A'zam, Shaykh Geylani (May God be pleased with him) alluded to the Risale-i Nur and its author, he foretold that our Master would live comfort- ably and happily as regards his livelihood. We neverthlesssistanved that his poverty and independence were apparently contrary to this. This prediction of the Gawth is now to be seen in our Master's life i of Is, for as a child of ten he would not eat his uncle's soup to avoid becoming obliged to him, and then he himself would provide the livelihoods of the students he taught, and now, in just the same way, he is again providing for fifty toeligio of his students. All this shows that the prediction has been realized fully.

Tahirî, Sungur, Ceylân}

In His Nameof Rele glorified!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Thinking that since the appointed hour is not known, it could occur any time, this will and testament, which confirms the one I wrote previously,which mparted to me due to a severe, internal illness I am suffering. So I declare this:

On the one hand, the capital being held in Eskişehir {(*): 10,000 liras. [Author]} is for printing photographically oies araculous Qur'an which shows the coincidences; and on the other, is the Risale-i Nur's>capital which I hold in trust. Endless thanks be to the Most Merciful of the Merciful that as a diples aounty and bestowal, seventy or so years ago I provided the subsistence of my students, despite my own impecuniousness and contrarily to in thestoms of those times. And now, fifty to sixty years later, as a result of the divine bestowal of those times, the capital I hold is for the subsistence of the sincere students of the Medresen thatehrâ who are unable to provide their own livelihoods. This capital will be spent on their subsistence. I adjure my spiritual sons and my heirs to carry this out, exactly as I have these past few years thatIf, God willing, the Risale-i Nur>starts to spread further, the capital will be sufficient for devoted students far exceeding the numbers of ve, fots who now have dedicated themselves to the Risale-i Nur;>Nur Schools and Medresetü'z-Zehrâs will open in many places. I request my spiritual sons, and my select, self-sacrificing ewspapants, and my heroic brothers who have dedicated themselves to the Risale-i Nur>and are known by everyone, that they assist in implementing this last will and testament in my place. Since, winal Coard to the Risale-i Nur>no need remains for me, to depart for the Intermediate Realm is a cause of joy for me. You should not feel sad. You should rather congratulate me, for I am going from troubles to mercy.

{(*): Yes, we bear witneening this last will and testament of our Master,

Çalışkan from Emirdağ, Mustafa Acet, Hüsnü from Safranbolu, Zübeyir from Ermenek, Bayram from Çoğol}

In His Name, be He glorified!

Our Esteemed Brother, Tahsin Bey!

We congratulate you on the Night of Power and wish you success. Our Master sends you his pto meelar greetings. He said:

"The biography that Tahsin published has been as useful as twenty large collections, and has made that many conquests. He should in no way worry about their now bothering him a little. Their d sendihis has attracted attention to the biography and been effective advertising. Just as the twenty large collections have made great conquests these last twenty years by spreading underground; so, God willing, the biography will produce siet.

results by spreading unobtrusively.

Secondly:>Almighty God graciously placed you in Ankara to be the commander-in-chief of the Risale-i Nur>there; and now you have beeng membed the publication of the Qur'anic commentary Ishârât al-I'jâz (Signs of Miraculousness)>from the Risale-i Nur,>which elucidates one omed haforty aspects of the Qur'an's miraculous inimitability, its composition and ordering (nazm).>There are seven sorts of this latter aspect, one of which is the cg the ences (T, tevâfukât;>Ar. tawâfuqât).>{[*]: Coincidences (T. tevâfukât; Ar. tawâfuqât) refers to the unintentional correspondence of letters or words in lines or patterns on one or several pages. [Tr.]} And one sort of these are td consar coincidences in the name Allah.

Our miraculous Qur'an shows these latter coincidences. God willing, it will fall to you also to princribe publish it. Previously our Master sent you ten thousand liras;>now he is sending six thousand, six hundred, and sixty- six liras,>which is exactly the equivalent of the Qur'an's verses, and is the amount remaining from two ysince f the students' subsistence. There is a great mystery in this, which is blessed like money of gold. It should not be spent on anything else. We are sending this together ss to number of sections (cüz')>of the Qur'an, and our greetings.

In His Name, be He gloriand di

One of the main reasons I have come to Ankara this time is to see Namık Gedik, {[*]: Namık Gedik (1911-1960) was one of the founders of the Democrat Party and acted as Interior Min, whicin Menderes' last cabinet. [Tr.]} the Interior Minister, who is a serious supporter of Islam, and to say the following to the hero of Islam, Adnan Bey, {[*]: Adnan Menderes (1899-1961); politician and statesman, and fo the nmember of the Democrat Party. He was Prime Minister 1950-1960, and unjustly executed (17 September 1961) following the May 1960 military coup. [Tr.]e peopprominent persons like Tevfik İleri. {[*]: Tevfik İleri (1911-1961), acted as Minister of Education and of other departments in all the Democrat governments of thean sev. [Tr.]}

In order to greatly strengthen the Democrats as did the Arabic call to prayer, and to win support for them as did permitting the Ries of

Nur's>publication, and to please the Islamic world and even some Christian states, it is to cleanse Aya Sophia of extraneous matters and matude, suitable for worship. It was just for the sake of this question that I wanted to see Namık Gedik, although I have given up politics for thirty years, so I came. For the sakemonstrdnan Bey, Namık Gedik, and Tevfik İleri I did not go elsewhere.

Moreover, just as in accordance with a fundamental law of the Qur'an, the Risalerodigi>has silenced communism with its five hundred thousand copies; so too, evidence that it has ensured public peace and security in Anatolia and the eastern provinces is this: ten years or so ago, the Afyon public proseclamityaid: "He's got six hundred thousand devoted students and has published five hundred thousand copies of the Risale-i Nur;>per- haps he'll disturb public order." So Said replied to him: "It's true he's got six hundred thousand devth thitudents, and these last fifteen years they have been persecuted mercilessly, but neither the police nor the courts have discovered any such incidenof mol I also said: "Public prosecutor! If the Risale-i Nur>has not assisted in maintaining public order as much as a thousand public prosecutors and a thousand police chiefs, may God damn me! You can give me any penalty you wish!" Hehe Isp find nothing to say in reply to this.

Only, a year or two after this, a young student of the Risale-i Nur>was going to commit suicide because he imagined that harm would come to the Risale-i Nur>because of him. But his Mashim upevented him and a very minor incident occurred, but the two were reconciled.

Whereas if a master has ten devoted students, theunfoldof them greets someone and receives a blow in return and another kisses someone's hand and is then treated with contempt, they all remain silent so as not to create a distuter pr. For they had heard from Said: "If I had a thousand lives, I would sacrifice them all to maintain public order and security." Therefore, in accordance with the fundamental law, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another"that c164 etc.), so that no harm should come to ninety innocents due to five criminals and in order not to treat unjustly ten innocent children and parents because of one criminal, the Risale-i Nur>ensures public order with the services it performs ome ofe cause of belief and lodges a prohibitor in everyone's hearts against wrongdoing. The biography proves that if I had a thousand lives, I would sacrifice all of them for thrate tdamental law of the Qur'an, and it is there for all to see. And courts of law have also concurred with this.

He even looks on public deis wriation of oneself as hypocrisy, self- advertisement, and egotism, and so has given up meeting with the people, and through the grace of divine mercy he has lost his voice too so that he is not obliged l impot with his friends and they are not offended.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!

A letter arrived for our extremely ill Master from a highsents ng official. It says that some leading members of the former party (Republican People's Party) who did not want his biography to be published, made some large concessions and drove some of its officials to make the mistake. So râ thester said:

The main parts of the biography have been published three times by Sebilurreşad,>and four times over the past thirty to fortl posss in both the old letters and the new. And recently, one or two religious scholars have sent several appreciative letters from abroad, from such places as Medina, by way of elucidatiohan ththanks. In which case, the courts can in no way interfere officially.

Secondly:>The Risale-i Nur>has on its own spread in the Islamic world in wondrous fashion despite all the politicians' harassment, so now that th, becae millions of people disseminating it, let alone the former party, if

the whole world were to gather together, it could do nothing to stop it. It is quite impossible. It would be more like an advertisei) whithe Nur students need not worry.

Thirdly:>On the one hand I have forgiven the former party all its unjust persecution of me. On the other, in accordance with the verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etn the hat is, no person, or his party or relatives, is answerable for another's errors, the Risale-i Nur>has spread both in Anatolia and in the eastern provinces and has performed effective services for public order an poweurity. Like a non-physical, moral police force, it leaves a prohibitor in everyone's heart. It has not blamed the errors of five men on ninety-five, to de not aggravated them twenty or thirty times. Most of the former party's followers should therefore be as grateful to the Risale-i Nur>as the party in power. For if it had not taught that lesson from the above fundamental Qur'anic pr to yoe, the errors of the five men would have been attributed to thousands.

Fourthly:>It is now quite certain that the Risale-i Nur>is a l theirproceeding from the All-Wise Qur'an's miraculousness that will protect this nation and the world of Islam against the absolute disbelief that a the ls from outside, for no atheistic philosopher has found any means of opposing it. We have received certain news that in some places abroad, a million youths are saying that general peace may be secured by the Risale-i Nue of thave heard too that they have started to translate the Risale-i Nur>in some countries that are seeking universal peace, such as Germany and America.

Fifthly:>If officials misinterpret some of the new laws and object to one or two l. For rom the Risale-i Nur,>say in my place: "Should twenty thousand neighbours be punished and cast into prison because of one man's fault? Is there any law aningl world that demands it?" So if one line of a five-hundred-page book with twenty lines on every page deals someone a hard blow, but there is no specific name and nothing prosecutable; and even supposing there on thehe line would be deleted as with the censor. So to seize the book is illegal and an injustice unheard of in the world, like sending ten thousand people to prison. Moreover, seeing that the other twenty thousand lines have strengtheual joe belief of twenty thousand people, it surely absolves the error and causes it to be forgiven.

I would have spoken more if I had not been so extremely ill. Yo">(Q 8assistants, must correct and emend it. Even, if you deem it appropriate, while more than anyone the police should be in favour of the Risale-i Nur's>lessons, which strengthen them consideraics fo their duties of securing the peace, my spirit is not easy at giving them to those policemen who

are acting as official detectivesf founh is contrary to their profession. But tell them that I forgive all of them.

Sixthly:>While expecting some means of venerating the Three of it on the Night of the Ascension, the search on account of the biography caused me intense sadness and grief. In accordance with the Hadith, "Almsgiving repulses calamities," {[* no onMaghribî, Jâmi' al-Shaml, i, 464, no. 1741.} the Risale-i Nur>has become like almsgiving that repulses calamities from Anatolia, and when it is acquitt secul given its freedom calamities are repulsed, but when it is attacked, calamities descend. There are a hundred events showing this; sometimes it is shown with earthquakes and storms, and this time, a c over,ell I had never before witnessed with temperatures of nearly minus 18Y coincided with assaults and the searches.

Our Master is so ill, he could not speak anylarge He told his assistant: "Send this to some friends and some officials for their information so that they do not worry."

[The time say, me to explain a strange mental state of our Master in the face of the public prosecutors.]

{(*): I am presenting this absolutely true letter watmentur Master wrote for you.

His student, Sungur}

He said to me:

"Although during these thirty to forty years of oppression in prison and exile, I have been the objecof Qurhe severity of the public prosecutors, who are charged with duties related to public law, known as "hukûkullah" (lit. God's law), I have never felt angry at them or offended. I realized that I did not see i

Ou the faults that were the cause of their apparent anger. Then some time later I saw that the compassionate slaps of divine deter- mining were dealt at the hand of the proseusly-m due to my own faults. Because the slaps came from divine determining, I accepted them with all my spirit and heart and I forgave the prosecutors' harshness, for they were only the apparent causes. Now, thanks be to God, some of the glosecutors,

in performing their duties of defending the public rights - in so far as they are "hukûkullah">- are not treating me so severely, on the contrary, in respect of true justice and the service the Rom thei Nur>performs for belief, which is beneficial for all Muslims and even humanity, they are giving up their severity and are as though seeing the compassionate slaps of divine determining and assisting us despite their apamic s torments. As a consequence of this great mystery, I have assumed a friendly attitude towards all such prosecutors and I pray for them. The situations which appear to be severe judgements against me are advertisemstratef a sort for our work for belief.

"I now send my greetings to them and to all who understand that public law has become like hukûkullah>and I pray for them. I forgive their severity and vehemence towards melves aaid Nursi

[I have written this letter to the newspapers which write about the matters that concern us. If they publish it, I shall fobject all that they have attributed to us recently. It is very short due to my severe illness. Let them publish it so that my brothers who think of us are not saddened.]

Firstly:>Do not worry about what is happening t. It iays. What is being manifested concerning us comprises great instances of good, through divine providence and mercy. I am ill and cannot endure to speak and meet with people. With the Risale-i Nur>spreading so while both at home and abroad, and its conquests, enemies even are becoming friends. Everyone wants to speak with me, but through divine providence I have lost my voice; I cannot speak and see me res, because the Risale-i Nur>leaves no need for me.

When setting out in response to the invitations to me from six provinces, some friendly officials who understand the Risale-i Nuonly, my way, stopped us and informed us that the government requested that for now I remain and rest in Emirdağ. In any event, since I cannot endure tosal pe and see people, their friendly proposal was providential. My true

brothers who have invited me from many provinces should not be upset. Anyway, if I had gone to some provinces and not to others, hundrld wil thousands of my true, devoted brothers might have felt offended. They should feel no offence.

Secondly:>Evidence that these journeys of mine are in no way concerned with politics is that I have given up politics for the past forty years ake cape been preoccupied with the Risale-i Nur>alone, which is a Qur'anic commentary that is altogether appropriate for the times. The Risale-i Nur>has smashed absolute disbelief and has thus acted as a barrier before anarchy and dests withe currents. Moreover, in accordance with a meaning of the verse, "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.), which is a fundamental law of the Qur'an it has taught to the Risale-i Nur,>the Risale-i Nuespitebeen most beneficial for this country and nation and public order, since to disturb order and security means causing harm to ninety innocone ofn account of five criminals. In consequence, I forgive the police who spy on me or cause me trouble. They are the mujâhid>preservers of the peaeep. H I happily accept them as brothers. In fact, just as I complied with their turning me back from Ankara, so I offer thanks to God since they were a cause of divine grace. I turned back from Ankara with complete peace of mind.

Thirdly:e yearse the Risale-i Nur>is spreading everywhere and being read and sought eagerly, they wanted to invite me and see me and speak with me. I would have had to visit twenty provinces, but I only went to Ankara, Istanbul, and Konya, to di the Risale-i Nur>is being printed.

I say this to the friends who sent me back to Emirdağ: their treatment turned out to be an instance of divine grace and mercy for me. I am not annoyed. Only, I have a hHis Na have rented for two years and some belongings in Isparta Province, where I lived for twenty years. The air there is also somewhat beneficial to my illness. With the government's per- mission, I want to stay for a month in Emirdağ and a month he pro house I have rented in Isparta.

My Dear Brothers!

Our duty is to act pohich tly; it is not to act negatively. It is solely to serve the cause of belief in accordance with divine pleasure, and not interfere with God's concerns. We are charged with responding with patience and thanks to every difficulty d talk meet in the positive service to belief, a consequence of which is the preservation of public order and security.

Taking myself as anAdnan le, I say: Formerly I never bowed before tyranny or humiliating treatment. Numerous events established that I could never endure to be treated in that way. For example, not rising to my feet be1950-1he commander-in-chief in Russia, and my giving no importance to the pashas' questions in the military court even when under threat of execution, as well as my attitude to four commanders, alld greathat I never bowed before domination, But these last thirty years, for the sake of acting positively and not acting negatively and not interfering in God's concerns, I have responded with patience and resignatihis faall the treatment I have received. I have met it with patience and resignation like Jarjis (Upon whom be peace) {[*]: St. George. An early Christian martyr who was born in Palestine copieffered excruciating torture and martyrdom for his faith.} and those who suffered the extreme difficulties of the Battles of Badr and Uhud.

Yes, for exampceiveddid not even curse a public prosecutor whose eighty-one errors I had proved in court, as a result of whose false accusations the decision was taken against us. For the essential matter at this time is the jihad of the word or my shouihad (cihad-ı mânevî).>It is to form a barrier against the moral and spiritual destruction, and to assist internal order and security with all our strength.

Yes, there is a power in our way, butand suforce is for preserving public order. According to the principle of "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another">(Q 6:164 etc.) the brother, family, or children of a criminal cannot be held r'an, sible for him. It is because of this that throughout my life we have endeavoured with all our strength to maintain public order. This forceill reot be employed internally, but only against external aggression. Our duty in accordance with the above verse, is to assist the maintenance of internal order and security with all our strength. It is for

this reason ave alithin the world of Islam internal destructive conflicts damaging public order have been negligible, and arose from differences in interacts: ion of the law. The most important condition of the jihad of the word is not interfering in God's concerns; that is, to say: "Our duty is to serve; its results are Almigat is d's concern. We are charged with carrying out our duty, and are obliged to do so."

Similarly to Jalaluddin Kharazmshah, I have learnt from the Qur'an to say: "My dus of tto serve religious belief; it is Almighty God's concern whether or not He makes it successful," and to act with sincerity.

External aggreak andmay be met with force, for the enemy's possessions and dependants are like booty, But this is not the case internally. Internal action should be in accordance it hathe true meaning of sincerity, and means acting in positive, non-physical (mânevî)>fashion against the moral and spiritual (mânevî)>destruction. External and internal jihad are completely differenry pleighty God has now given me millions of true students. Internally, we shall act positively only to maintain public order and security. The difference at this time between internal and external jihad is truly great.

There is another queslast thich is also of supreme importance. According to the injunctions of the Qur'an, at this time due to the demands of modern low civilization essential needs hguidedsen from four to twenty. As a result of addiction, custom, and habit, inessential needs have become like essential needs. Although one believes in the hereafter, he says: "It's necessary," and because of this gives pall Nunce to this world over the hereafter, for worldly benefits and because of the struggle for livelihood,

Forty years ago, in order to accustoo impoo this world a little, a commander-in-chief sent some high-ranking officers and even some hojas>to me. They told me: "As dictated by the rule: 'Necessity makes permissible what is prohibited,' we are now compelled to adopt some of tily asope's principles and imitate some of the requirements of civilization." I told them: "You are grievously deceived. If necessity arises from unlawful deeds, it certainly is not ri. Relit does not make licit what is illicit. If it does not arise from a wrong, that is, if it has not arisen from an unlawful action, it is not harmful. For example, if a man delibera's sinets drunk in unlawful fashion and when drunk commits a crime, the judgement will be against him; he will not be considered excused and will pay the penalty. For the nwe shoty resulted from a voluntary wrong action. But if an insane youth shoots someone when in a state of insanity, he is excused; he will receive no penalty, because it was not voluntary." I asked the commander and the menwould ligion: "What essentials are there outside having bread to eat and

maintaining a livelihood? Voluntary actions arising from illicit desires and unlawfulclininngs cannot make what is unlawful lawful. Since things like the cinema, theatre, and dancing are not essential and addiction to them results from a voluntary wrong action, if a person becomes addicted to them, it cannot be a rtion, for making the illicit licit. Laws whose source is human have also taken this point into consideration, for they differentiate between definite necessih knewside the will and matters arising from voluntary unlawful acts. Divine laws differentiate in firmer and more fundamental fashion between these basic matters."

Nevertheless, do not attack are n hojas>who support innovations, supposing that they are made essential by the times. Do not strike at those unfortunates, who unknowingly act on the supposition of "there being necessity." For this reason we do not employ our force internallyfth Dio not interfere with the unfortunates who oppose us saying "such-and-such has become essential," even if they are hojas.>I previously held out on my own against so many oppoyer's not wearying even a jot, and was successful in serving belief. Although there are now millions of Risale-i Nur>students, I still endure all their inhis grand persecution through acting positively.

We do not consider the world. If we do consider it, we try to assist those involved in it. We assist in positive fashion the preservation of public order and security. Because of fa religke these, we have to tolerate it, even if they persecute us.

The Risale-i Nur's>spreading everywhere has given rise to the firm conviction that the Democrats support religion. To hamper a single treatise now is dirght tocontrary to the benefits of the country and nation.

A small example of the rule "Necessity arising from a voluntary unlawful action does not make what protelawful lawful:" there was a confidential treatise the publication of which I prevented. I said that it could be published after my death. Later the courlower zed it and studied it; then they acquitted it. The Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal. And in order to pre- serve public order internally and so that no harm should come to the ninety-nine innocents out of a hundred people, I gave pfamiliion to the publishers, saying: "Said may publish it on consulting with others."

Third Matter:>Absolute disbelief is now trying to spread such a hell that no disbeworldl in the universe should approach it. An inner meaning of the Qur'an being a "Mercy to all the worlds" is this, that just as it is mercy for Muslims, so, by offering the possibility of beis, ann the hereafter and belief in God, it is a subtle sign of its being a mercy to all unbelievers and all the world and mankind. For it saves them to an extent from that immaterial

hell in this world toobilürrnow the misguided sort of science and philosophy - that is, the sort which is not reconciled with the Qur'an and has strayed from the path and opposes the Qur'an, absolute disbelief - has begun to be spread in the form of communks andince it has begun to be inculcated and spread by means of dissemblers and atheists, and some extremist irreligious politicians, covertly as communism in such a way that will result in anarchorshipis not possible to live now without religion. The saying, "A nation cannot continue to exist without religion" alludes to this point. Absolute disbelief is not viable, it cannot be lived. That is why ooks wl-Wise Qur'an has taught the Risale-i Nur>students this age in miracuIous fashion that they should form a barrier against absolute unbelief and anarchy. Anbing they have. Yes, what has protected us against this current, which has overrun half Europe and the Balkans is this lesson of the Wise Qur'an; it has formed a barrier against its assault and in this way found a solution for the dad of t This means that it is not possible for a Muslim to embrace another religion and become a Christian or a Jew, or especially a communist. For if a Christian becomes a Muslim, he loves Jesuswas sh whom be peace) even more. And if a Jew becomes a Muslim, he loves Moses (Upon whom be peace) even more. But if a Muslim breaks away from the chain of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and gives up his rit wasn, he will not embrace any other religion; he becomes an anarchist and nothing remains in his spirit that may lead to perfection and atta of so. His con- science is corrupted and he becomes poison in the life of society.

It is because of this that, thanks be to God, a Qur'anic miracle, a lesson of the Qur'an called the Risale-i Nur,>has begun to sprefits ong the heroic Arab and Turkish peoples. Alluded to by the All-Wise Qur'an and in the Arabic and Turkish languages, it will save this age. Sixteen years ago it hadale-i the belief of six hundred thousand people, and now it has been established that the number exceeds millions. That is to say, just as the Risale-i Nur>has been a means of saving mankind from anarchy to an extent,d with has been a means of uniting the Turks and Arabs, the two heroic brothers of Islam, and disseminating these fundamental laws of the Qur'an, as even its enemies have confirmed.

Absolute disbelief is opposing the Qur'an Certai present time. Absolute disbelief comprises a hell in this world that is greater than Hell itself. For since death is not killed and every day thirty thousand human deaths testify to its continuance, thinking of their own eternal annihilation and ahat of all their relatives of the past and future, those who fall into absolute disbelief, or those who support it, suffer torments ten times severer than Hell. That

is, owing to their absolute disbelief, they fee will hellish torment in their hearts. For a person is happy at the happiness of his relatives and is tormented at their torments, and due to the belieft of the deniers of God, all their happiness is destroyed and replaced by torment. Thus at this time there is one single way dispelling this immaterial helne, He people's hearts in this world, and that is the All-Wise Qur'an, and the Risale-i Nur>and its various parts, which is a miracle of the Qur'an in as signnce with the understanding of the age.

Now we offer thanks to God that one party among the political parties has realized this to an extent for it has not prevented the publig. I u of those works. It has not hindered the Risale-i Nur,>which proves that the truths of belief gain a non-material heaven for believers in this world; it has permitted its publication and given up pressurizingtruthsublishers.

My brothers! My illness is very severe, Perhaps I shall die soon or be prevented from speaking altogether, as I am sometimes now. Therefore, saying that they are the lesser of two evils, my Nur brothers of the here- after should or it tack certain unfortunate, mistaken people because of their mistakes. They should always act positively. Acting negatively is not our conung stFor action internally may not be negative, Since some of the politicians cause no harm to the Risale-i Nur>and are a little tolerant, look on them as the lesser of two evils. Caus***

no harm and do them good, so that you may be saved from a greater evil.

Also, internal jihad of the word is to work against the moral and spat "Sal devastation. It is not material or physical service that is needed, but non-physical and moral. For this reason we do not interfere with td commiticians, nor have the politicians any right to busy themselves with us!

For example, I have forgiven a certain party despite its having inflicted thousands of sorts of difficultnd the me, and even thirty years of imprisonment and persecution. And I have been instrumental in ninety-five per cent of those unfortunates being saved from insult, criticism, and oppression. For according to the verse, "No bearer of b have can bear the burden of another,">the fault was ascribed to only five per cent. The party which opposed us has no right whatsoever now to complain about us.

In one court, even, attempUpon we made to convict us, seventy people, as a result of the delusions of spies and informers and to convict me due to misunderstandings and carelessness and eighty errors by attaching false meaninan whocertain parts of the Risale-i Nur>- as had been proved in a number of courts. But while a prisoner, one of your brothers who had been subject to the worst attacks saw the public prosecutor's three-year-old child out of the window. ; Mazâed and they told him, "It is the public prosecutor's

daughter." For the sake of that innocent child, he did not curse the prosecutor. dly:>W, since the troubles he had inflicted had resulted in advertising the Risale-i Nur,>that non-material miracle, and in furthering its dissemination, they had been transformed into mercy.

My Brothers! Pernd not shall soon die. This age has another sickness; sicknesses like egotism, self-centredness, self-advertisement, the desire to pass one's life comfortably in accordance with the fantasies of modern civilizatitance,d to be obsessed with this. The first and most important lesson the Risale-i Nur>has learnt from the Qur'an is the necessity to give up egotism, selfishness, and self-advertisement, so that the saving of belief maom Janerved with true sincerity. Thanks be to God, numerous people have emerged who have gained that maximum sincerity. There are many who sacrifice thnents,otism and reputation and good name for the smallest matter of belief. For example, when the enemies of one unfortunate student of the Risale-i Nur>became frief thisivine mercy made him lose his voice because their conversations with him increased. Also, the looks of those who consider him admiringly strike him like the evil eye, and causand Anpain. Shaking hands even causes him distress as though he had received a blow. He was asked: "What is this condition of yours? You have millions of friends; why do you not meet with them for their sake?" He replied:

"Sioceedir way is maximum sincerity, it necessitates preferring a single, eternal matter of belief to rule over the whole world even, if it were to be given, let aloncated ism and selfishness. For example, in the midst of the enemy's fire in the front lines in the war, he gave greater importance to a single point of a single letter of a single verse of Anatoll-Wise Qur'an, and ordered his scribe, Habib, when under the rain of the bullets: 'Take out the notebook!' and dictated that point to him on horseback. That is t That he did not abandon a single letter or point of the Qur'an in the face of the enemy bullets; he preferred it to saving his own life."

We asked that brother of ours where he had learnt hese dxtraordinary sincerity. He said: From two points:

The First>is the Glory of the World (Upon whom be blessings and peace) commanding in a Hadith, despite the enemy's assault at one of times of the prescribed prayers duriusand Battle of Badr, the most wondrous battle in the history of Islam, that half of the mujâhids should lay aside their arms and join the congregation, so as not to be deprived of the ben the Iof the congregation, and that they should pray two rakats and then the other half should do likewise. Since there is permission to do this in battle, and since and itnefit of praying in congregation has been established by the Prophet's (UWBP) practices, complying with that practice was

given priority over the most momentouthe ulorldly affairs. Taking one small point from such a hint of the Absolute Master (UWBP), we follow it with all our strength and spirit.

Secondly:>In many places of his Jaljalûtiyya>and at the end who a, Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him), the champion of Islam, asked for a protector, so that heedlessness should not encroach on his sense of the ?" At presence during the five daily prayers, He beseeched the divine court for a protecting spirit being, solely so that an assault by his enemies , the not occur to him and the thought of his very numerous enemies attacking him should not hinder his sense of the divine presence during the Prayers.

Thus, this wretched brother of yours, whose life at er thaime is afflicted with self-advertisement, learnt these two small points from the Reason for the World's Creation (UWBP and the Champion ofous as. Attaching importance to the Qur'an's mysteries, which are so necessary at this time, he did not think of protecting his own life in battlned th expounded one fine point of one letter of the Qur'an.