[Husrev’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

In the indictment the prosecution has charged me in two respects, one general, the other particular. The general charge is my service of the Risale-i Nur and my sharing in the imaginary crime of my Master. The particular charge is my life of seclusion, which is of no importance and constitutes no crime, as well as a number of circumstances related to my personal life. In reply to the prosecution’s making me share in my Master’s imaginary crime because of my service to the Risale-i Nur, I say this:

On the way my Master has taken, I participate with all my heart and soul in the imaginary crime with which he is charged, in the sacred service he performs through the Risale-i Nur for the Islamic world and particularly for this country and nation. I shall offer thanks to Almighty God till the end of my days for having given me success in this service of religious belief.

Respected Judges! Certain evidence of my success in serving the Risale-i Nur is this:

It was my writing out the copies of the Qur’an, although I had little proficiency in Arabic calligraphy, in a wondrous and unprecedented way, perfectly, outside my will and power. One of these you have in your possession.

The second evidence is my success in writing nearly six hundred copies of various parts of the Risale-i Nur, which for twenty years has secured enormous benefits for this country and nation, and for religion and good morality. In fact, in the short time of one month I wrote out fourteen treatises, as my friends know. I find it superfluous to defend also those points related to my part in my Master’s sacred service, which are supposed to be offences. I affirm with all my strength my Master’s written objections and their addendum, and I present them to your high court as my own objections.

Respected Judges! Our Master follows no worldly or political aim at all in his blessed, sacred, and luminous works, which your court is still holding and which consist of the truths of belief and the Qur’an. Moreover, just as I and my friends confirm the sacred service he has performed for this country and nation, so did the patriots in the Union and Progress government confirm it. For at that time, they gave nineteen thousand gold liras for his university in Van, called the Medresetü’z-Zehra. The lovers of their country admiringly confirmed his patriotic, scholarly endeavours. Then one hundred and sixty-three deputies out of two hundred allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras, when funds were very scarce, for that university of his in the east.

Throughout his life, my sacred, blessed Master, whom the prosecution has designated a criminal, has compelled even his most obdurate and jealous enemies to submit and those who have sought his conviction in the courts, not permitting them to combat his vehement, sharp words. I inform your high court that I am proud of the service I have performed for the Risale-i Nur this last twenty years, working as a scribe in his sacred service and all his learned activities, the aim of which is to secure the foundation stones of this country’s happiness and prosperity.

Prisoner, Husrev Altinbasak

* * *

[Tahiri’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

As has been communicated to me by the office of the Afyon state prosecutor, I have been sent to trial together with my Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, and his other companions in connection with the matter of inciting the people to breach state security by exploiting religious feelings.

I gave correct answers to the questions asked of me both in Isparta Magistrates’ Court, and in the office of the Afyon examining magistrate. Denizli Court, which acquitted us, returned all our books to us, and did not convict us for reading and writing out the treatises of my Master, Bediuzzaman, or for corresponding with our brothers who are his students. However, six years ago, without my Master’s permission, on my own initiative I had printed in Istanbul five hundred copies of the Seventh Ray by Bediuzzaman in the old letters. In accordance with the decision dated 20.7.1945, Denizli Court returned these in their entirety together with their box, handing them over to me in person. They were then distributed at cost price to Risale-i Nur students eager for them.

In consequence of that court’s decision, which had been ratified by the Appeal Court and had been made final, two years ago I bought a duplicating machine in Istanbul and paper, and took them to Isparta.

Of the three collections which you have in your possession, two were written out by my brother Husrev Altinbasak, and one was written out by myself. First of all we printed Zülfikâr, containing The Miracles of Muhammad (PBUH) and The Miraculousness of the Qur’an. This we in part sold, and with the money bought the paper for The Staff of Moses Collection (Asâ-yi Mûsa). We then printed The Staff of Moses, and sold it. Then we bought the paper for The Illuminating Lamp Collection (Siracünnûr), and printed it. This continued for about a year. Then, when bringing around thirty copies of these collections to Egirdir, I was arrested on the way, and handed over to the judicial authorities in Egirdir. Not much time had passed when on the initiative of the Isparta judicial authorities, Husrev Altinbasak’s house was searched and both the duplicating machine and the collections were seized, and we were sent to court to be tried for the offences of a year previously. Since they were religious works which were not prohibited, Husrev Altinbasak, myself, and one other friend were given sentences of one month for printing books without permission. We applied to the Appeal Court, and before it had come to a decision, I was sent to Afyon Prison.

Now, in your high court, because of this altruistic service of mine for my religion and co-religionists, and particularly the question of the Fifth Ray, which contains interpretations of Hadiths and was returned by the former court, the Afyon state prosecutor wants to have me, and the Risale-i Nur’s author, and Husrev Altinbasak, and forty-six other student brothers punished for “breaching state security,” because they wrote out these works and read them.

I say to you in your presence as a full citizen of this country, without deviating from the truth, that for years I have been the student of Said Nursi, whom we hold with the highest esteem as our Master, and who with these works has rectified our conduct religiously and advanced us, and has rejected it when we called him “Regenerator of Religion.” I can testify categorically and absolutely certainly that neither he himself nor his works nor his students have in any way attempted to breach state security. One of the matters concerning which we have been charged is the money obtained from sale of the books, concerning which Isparta Court was fully aware and was unable to find us guilty and sentence us. For just as we were in no need to secure our livelihoods through sale of the books, so we used the money obtained from their sale to buy the duplicating machine, paper, and ink. There is no possibility of this service, which we performed purely for God’s sake with pure intention, being a crime, and therefore request of your high court and consciences that the copies of the Risale-i Nur be returned.

Prisoner, Tahiri

* * *

[Zübeyir’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I am charged with founding a secret society and breaching state security. As I shall set out below, since you will form the certain opinion that I have committed no such crime, I reject the charge here and now. Yes, I can say gratefully and outright that I am a Risale-i Nur student. It would be contrary to the virtue the Risale-i Nur has taught me to deny it, and I cannot commit such a misdemeanour. A person who reads the Risale-i Nur would not conceal it. On the contrary, he would proclaim it proudly and fearlessly. For it contains not a single word or sentence that demands hesitation.

I tried to describe the Risale-i Nur’s value in forty to fifty pages. I cannot say that I praised it. For I do not have the ability to praise any part of the Risale-i Nur, let alone the whole collection. For it is a true commentary on the All-Wise Qur’an, which is the sun of the universe and its intelligence, and has been illuminating and guiding humanity for around one thousand three hundred years. If any matter related to a secret society has been found in the works, as I stated above, I attempted to describe the value of, then punish me for the crime of trying to disseminate harmful works. However, the wonderful way in which the Risale-i Nur is written has been affirmed by learned scholars; it is sufficiently powerful to reform a corrupted society; it is a guide for the people of the twentieth century and saves them from misguidance and the vice they are dragged down to by materialism and Naturalism, and from the dense darkness of their ideas; and through the effulgence of the Qur’an, it has opened up for mankind a way leading to happiness and salvation, pointing it out clearly with its light. So if the Risale-i Nur Collection does not contain any discussions related to the crime of which I am accused, it is my opinion that your court too will agree that to punish me would be contrary to justice.

I was asked by the examining magistrate: “Are you a Risale-i Nur student?”

I do not consider myself worthy to be the student of a genius like Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. But if he accepts me, I proudly confess: “Yes, I am a Risale-i Nur student.”

Having been slandered on numerous occasions by his secret enemies, my Master Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the peerless author of the Risale-i Nur, has been sent to court, and every time has been acquitted. The Risale-i Nur has been scrutinized line by line by committees of professors and Islamic scholars and they have given reports stating that the work is written with unsurpassed knowledge and is a true commentary on the Qur’an. Since that is the truth, why is he sent to court? My firmly held views on this subject are as follows:

Those who read the Risale-i Nur, especially the perceptive young, acquire a powerful belief. They become unshakeably self-sacrificing and religious, and devoted to their country. The immorality and vice inculcated by negative ideologies can find no foothold where there is indestructible faith. The more those with such belief increase in number, Freemasonry and communism cannot expand and spread. The Risale-i Nur proves rationally, logically, and in scholarly fashion with verses from the Qur’an and extremely powerful proofs and arguments, that materialist philosophy, on which communism is based, has absolutely no connection with truth and reality, and that its theories are completely unfounded. It illumines those who fall into the darkness of those rotten ideas, and saves them. It proves God’s existence with powerful evidences that cannot be denied or objected to, to even materialists, who believe only what their eyes can see.

With its original and attractive style and elevated literary art, this wonderful work quite simply makes itself read, and by high school and university students in particular.

It is because of this that the communists and Masons know that the Risale-i Nur forms a powerful obstacle to the spread of their poisonous ideas. They have recourse to various stratagems and calumnies in order to eliminate the Risale-i Nur, or not to have it read, since, as a true Qur’anic commentary, it is a powerful source of belief. Although up to now there has been no sign whatsoever of any of the lies they have ascribed to us, they continue to attack us. It is understood from this that they want to intimidate us, make us give up the Risale-i Nur and at the same time put before us their own putrid publications. In this way, causing the nation and youth to lose their faith altogether, they want to bring about a decline in moral standards, and thus to make the country cave in on itself. It is their ambition to hand over this country and its people to a foreign power. In the presence of the bench of judges I say this fearlessly:

They should know this and tremble; we are not to be intimidated by mere threats. For we have seen truth and reality in the Risale-i Nur, and learnt it and believed in it. The Turkish youth is not sleeping. This heroic Islamic Turkish nation will not bow down under the yoke of another country. The religious, warlike Turkish nation, the believing, brave Turkish youth, fear nothing. It is for this reason that we read the Risale-i Nur, which raises us to the highest degrees of humanity, ensures that we advance in every field, and instilling in us young people love of religion, country, and nation, makes us true lovers of religion who will sacrifice all our beings for them. And we shall read this work. As I stated above, I have read very little of the Risale-i Nur, and yet I have profited enormously. This work is of the very greatest benefit for this country and nation and for all humanity, and if I had wealth, I would spend all of it to publish it. For I am ready to sacrifice my whole being for my religion and the eternal happiness and well-being of my country and nation.

Moreover, I have not believed in the Risale-i Nur naively. Thirty-three verses of the Qur’an, and Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and ‘Abd al-Qadir Geylani (May God be pleased with him) made predictions that the Risale-i Nur would be written and would offer guidance to the people of this age. Furthermore, the parts of the Risale-i Nur that I have read have made me form the opinion that this collection consists of works that teach truth and reality and that reform humanity.

I felt a great emptiness in my spirit, and when searching for a book to read, I came across the Risale-i Nur. Then when I read it, I could not be without it or put it down. I felt that the Risale-i Nur was meeting the overwhelming need in my heart. I found in it the rational proofs of belief to save me from doubts about belief and knowledge. In this way I was saved from the distress of scepticism. I understood from its truths that the Risale-i Nur was written for us, the people of this age.

Powerful belief is necessary so that one may acquire the elevated virtues necessary for good conduct and manners, and courtesy. Since the truths of belief are explained by means of extremely powerful proofs and clear examples in the Risale-i Nur, the more I read it, the stronger my belief became. In this way I was saved from giving up my religion, which is truth and reality and comprises the principles of the highest civilization, and from the calamity of being swallowed by the Red Monster. Thus, since the Risale-i Nur saves its readers from numerous calamities, material and spiritual; makes them more knowledgeable than a university graduate; instils in them love of Islam, country, and nation; and teaches them obedience to God, and to be hardworking and compassionate; no one who realizes its value would give it up, whatever the price. This sincere respect and veneration could be torn out of no one’s heart.

The Risale-i Nur is described by the prosecution as a harmful work. I protest in the strongest terms at this lack of conscience and lie. And it is claimed that I encourage it. Yes, this is true. The hearts of all the enlightened who heard the other lie were pained, indeed they wept and gnashed their teeth. The twentieth century is a time Positivist ideas are dominant. Things for which there are no proof and evidence are not believed in, and we do not believe in them. We want proof that the Risale-i Nur is harmful.

If another of the aims of our covert enemies who concoct these lies is to destroy the solidarity of those who read the Risale-i Nur, which is manifested as their embracing each other in exceptional fashion due to the bonds of Islam and for the sake of serving the Qur’an, and expresses only respect, compassion, and affection, and has no other goal in sight. Our enemies should not struggle against us for nothing. I am the most backward, the most ordinary of those who read the Risale-i Nur, yet I give them this reply:

Even if one of us is in the east, one in the west, one in the south, one in the north, one in the hereafter, and one in this world, we are still together. If the power of all the universe was to amass, it could not separate us from our exalted Master, Said Nursi, or from the Risale-i Nur, or from one another.

For we serve the Qur’an and we shall serve it. Because we believe in the reality of the hereafter, no force can root out this love and solidarity of ours. All Muslims shall gather together in the abode of eternal happiness.

With your permission, I shall describe an important fact concerning the well-being of our country and nation: one of the communists’ secret plans is to incite the people against the Government.

False information was given the leaders of the Government so that Bediuzzaman Said Nursi should be sent to prison and his works be seen as harmful. But no one believed the negative propaganda. For years the people of this nation have believed so firmly that he is a unique Islamic scholar this age and in every way without peer that no propaganda can destroy their true conviction.

I offer praise and thanks to Almighty God that He has favoured me with profiting from the works of a great Master. I am indebted with all my heart and soul to him for being the means of my learning about belief and Islam, and benefiting immeasurably. Since my Master has saved me from the distress I suffered for years as I wrote, and my youth from becoming fodder for communism, and my being condemned to everlasting solitary confinement, I am prepared to languish in this worldly prison for years for him.

If I suffer capital punishment on the way of the Risale-i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary which in twenty years has taught millions of people religion, belief, Islam, and virtue, preserving them from irreligion, I shall run to the gallows crying: “Allah! Allah! Ya Rasulallah!” If I am executed by firing squad on the way of the Risale-i Nur, which protects our young people from abandoning their religion and being swept away by communism to eternal perdition, and from crimes for which they would be shot as traitors to their country, without flinching I shall bare my chest to the bullets. And I beseech my Sustainer that if I am cut to pieces by knives for my Master Bediuzzaman, with my blood spurting in all directions I shall write: “The Risale-i Nur! The Risale-i Nur!”

Respected Judges of the Court!

The education the Risale-i Nur gives is truly marvellous and original; it is without equal. The purpose of other sorts of education is to gain material benefits and to attain various positions. People study mostly for materialist ends and to be able to become famous, or sometimes merely because they have to study. However, those who by reading its treatises, receive the Risale-i Nur education, which resembles an unorganized free university, nurture no worldly aims, only to serve the Qur’an and belief.

Nevertheless, the Risale-i Nur, which consists of serious, scholarly treatises about the truths of belief, is read with such enthusiasm, passion, and pleasure, that it awakens in those who read it faithfully the desire to read it over and over again. Even though those who read and write out the Risale-i Nur may find their lives in danger at the doors of the courtroom, they state openly that they read these wonderful works, and that they shall read them. Even if they know that the decision will be given for their execution, they do not hesitate to display this constancy. This characteristic of the Risale-i Nur, one of its many wonders, makes one ask: “Did those who admit this, find their lives by the wayside?”

This means that contained in the Risale-i Nur and Bediuzzaman is a truth so elevated that as well as not being harmful they did not deny it.

Normally students are made to study under the constraints of discipline and authority. However, Bediuzzaman compelled no one to study the Risale-i Nur, and hundreds of thousands of readers study it devotedly and resolutely, the majority of them without ever seeing him. Such a wondrous method of education was never seen in any medrese, either recently or previously, and was never encountered in any university.

The prosecutor said that “The respect in which Bediuzzaman is held has not been afforded to any other Qur’anic commentator.”

That is correct. Seeing that respect and reverence are awarded in relation to greatness and achievement, and gratitude and thanks are offered to the degree one has profited, Bediuzzaman’s works are profited from to an enormous degree so that respect for him and gratitude to him are unprecedented.

The Masons and communists expended every effort so that Bediuzzaman, the greatest Islamic thinker and writer of the twentieth century, would not be known by us, and especially by the young. But the wide-awake Turkish Muslim nation and youth recognized that hero of religion, our Master, and they benefited from him and allowed others to do so. It is because of this that their extraordinary attachment and confidence cannot be shaken.

Since the Qur’anic verses in the Risale-i Nur are expounded in Turkish with supreme art and skill without anything of their virtues, which are the Qur’an’s greatest miracle, being lost, every class of people —men, women, officials, tradesmen, scholars and philosophers— can read and understand it. Profiting from it to the extent they can, they become ever more attached to it. High school students, university students, professors, lecturers, and philosophers all read it. These educated classes profit from it to an extraordinary degree, affirming its originality and the superior art of its composition, and feeling a strong desire to read the whole work.

When perceptive and appreciative people first come to know Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur, they are infinitely regretful they did not know of them previously, and in order to make up for lost time, never waste their spare time, and if they have five minutes even, pick up the Risale-i Nur, and read it day and night. This extraordinary interest and demand has never ever been shown for the work of any psychologist, sociologist, or philosopher. Only the educated can benefit from them. If a middle school student or a housewife reads the work of a eminent philosopher, he or she does not profit from it. But everyone profits from the Risale-i Nur in accordance with his level. For this reason, the whole nation awaits your decision to acquit Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur students. If in this time of tribulation Said Nursi had not impressed on his students the need for patience, endurance, and moderation, as when the commander of a volunteer militia force in the First War he mustered his students to fight, so out of the great honour in which they hold him thousands of Risale-i Nur students would have pitched their tents on the heights around Afyon and awaited the decision of Afyon Criminal Court to acquit him.

The work that Said Nursi and the Risale-i Nur students do cannot be considered within the framework of the law and be proved to be a secret society. Why can it not be proved? Is a legal expert who has risen to be chief public prosecutor incapable of proving it according to the law? No, he is certainly not incapable. But there is no organization that could be called a secret political society. That is why it cannot be proved.

It is a contradiction that the statement the prosecutor first gave, which was completely accurate and in accordance with the law, said that “the Risale-i Nur students are not a political society,” and then a bit later for some reason said that “they are a political society.” Of course the latter is invalid. We are certain that the judges will see this fact clearly and give the decision that “there is no secret society.”

Judges of the Court!

If when suffering sorrow and anguish a piece was broken off the heart, the news of a youth losing his religion should make the heart break into pieces to the number of its minute particles.

Thus, the acquittal you shall give shall be the cause of the Muslim youth and Islamic world being effectively saved from this terrible plague. This is another of the reasons binding me inseparably to Bediuzzaman and his works.

Your decision to acquit the Risale-i Nur and give it its freedom will save all the Turkish youth and all Muslims from the tragedy of irreligion. For without any doubt at all, one day the Risale-i Nur, a treasury of elevated truths, will be known throughout the world. Then you shall be appreciated by all mankind. Your decision to acquit the Risale-i Nur will make the present and future generations grateful to you, and the more it is read and benefited from, the more you shall be appreicated.

Beware! Do not suppose these sincere words of mine are hypocritical. Absolutely not! Because I am afraid of no one while Bediuzzaman is being tried, nor do I waver.

Only, with your permission, I want to say this much: if the prosecutor continues to make such despicable charges against the Risale-i Nur, which is a superlative means of preventing Freemasonry and communism in this blessed country, and against its author and readers, and he does not desist from making those entirely erroneous accusations, and carried away by his feelings, opposes them, he will be supporting communism and Freemasonry, and will be assisting the noxious atheists to multiply, against whom in truth these charges should be made.

* * *

[Part of Zübeyir’s Supplement for the Appeal Court]

Through its proofs the Risale-i Nur repairs the belief of people which has been destroyed by the doubts and scepticism sown by the publications of secret atheistic organizations.

One of the least tangible reasons for the youth adhering to the Risale-i Nur as though electrocuted, is this: for years with unparalleled devotion and self-sacrifice, elderly and ill, at a time demanding extraordinary caution, with superhuman patience Bediuzzaman Said Nursi has endured the various torments of his enemies, the communists, Masons, and those hoodwinked by them. With his truth-seeing, realistic view, he has distinguished numerous treacherous stratagems against religion, and has written works about belief which will bring to nothing their fearsomely cunning, covert plans.

But what a regretable, sad and sorry situation it is, that for twenty-five years they have tried to eliminate this champion of Islam, this matchless person, in prisons and places of detention, in absolute solitary confinement. Even if due to animosity resulting from the unfounded suspicions given rise to by the treachery of communists, the Risale-i Nur’s author has been punished, his works continue to be read with ever increasing interest and enthusiasm.

The first and most powerful evidence is this: the young people who read the work The Staff of Moses (Asâ-yi Mûsa), which has been duplicated in the new letters, quickly learn the Qur’anic alphabet in order to be able to read the rest of the works. This removes the obstacle of not knowing the Qur’anic script, which prevents a person learning numerous sciences and compels him to read works written specifically to distance him from religion and belief. Whenever the younger generation has been decked out and fortified with the Qur’an and the sciences that irradiate from it, the nation to which that youth belongs has begun to progress and advance. Here, the youth have begun to fill their spirits, burning with the need for belief and Islam, with the lights of the Risale-i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary. Thus acquiring certain, verified belief, our young people will struggle against irreligion and communism, and will on no account allow their country to be sold to the enemies of Islam. If the communists, therefore, find the opportunity to destroy all paper and ink, numerous youths like myself and older people will be ready to sacrifice themselves, and in order to publish the Risale-i Nur, a treasury of truth, would if it was possible make their skins into paper and blood into ink.

Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times!

In the indictment the prosecutor says: “Said Nursi is poisoning the university students with his works.” In reply we say: “If the Risale-i Nur is poison, we are in need of tons of it and thousands of kilos. If he knows where it is to be found in abundance, he should send us there speedily by aeroplane!”

When we Risale-i Nur students suffer the persecution of tyrants for the sake of serving belief and Islam, we prefer to die in the corners of prison or on the gallows to dying on the couch of comfort. We know it to be a supreme Divine favour to die as martyrs in the prison into which we have been unjustly cast because of our service to the Qur’an, rather than living in captivity in what is apparently freedom but in reality absolute despotism.

Prisoner, Konyali Zübeyir Gündüzalp⁹²

Afyon Prison.

* * *

[Mustafa Sungur’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

The prosecution wants to have me punished for belonging to the society of Nurjus and inciting the people against the government.

Firstly: There is no society called the Nurju Society, and I belong to no such society. I am a member of the sacred, Divine society of Islam, which every century for one thousand three hundred and fifty years has had three hundred million members, was founded by Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), the Glory of the Universe, and is vast and luminous and promises eternal happiness for all mankind. All thanks be to God, I am determined to obey its sacred injunctions with all my strength.

As for the Risale-i Nur, my being a student of which is considered to be a crime, it is a miracle of the Qur’an that teaches me my religious duties and those related to belief and that Islam is the highest and most sacred religion and the sole means of happiness for mankind. It proves with brilliant evidences that the Qur’an is a decree of the All-Glorious One, Who is the Owner of all beings, is all-present and all-seeing everywhere, and under Whose pre-eternal administration are all beings from minute particles to the stars and suns; it is a miraculous work whose view encompasses pre-eternity and post-eternity and all events; it is the pre-eternal address of an Everlasting Sun which is superior to all other books and miraculous in forty aspects, and which by giving mankind the good news of eternal happiness, is the object of their eternal gratitude. It proves too that God’s Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) was sent by the Creator of the Universe, and that with all his conduct and practices was the most perfect, the most loyal, the highest of all men, whose perfections were the most elevated, and through the light of Islam that he brought, gave the best of all news to men, and gave them the most sacred consolation, and who has taken under his spiritual rule fourteen centuries and one fifth of mankind, and to the book of whose good deeds pass the equivalent of all the good deeds performed for one thousand three hundred years by his community, and that he is the reason for the universe’s existence and is God’s Beloved. It proves also with brilliant proofs that both the hereafter, and Paradise and Hell are certain and definite.

With its words and sentences, the Risale-i Nur testifies that it is a pre-eternal and post-eternal light proceeding from the light of the Qur’an and the Light of Muhammad (PBUH). In respect of its belonging to the Qur’an and being a special commentary on it, it pertains to the heavens and the Divine Throne. Thus, with all its Words, all its Flashes and Rays, and all its Letters, the Risale-i Nur, which is supposed to be inciting the people against the Government, teaches the Divine truths, and principles of Islam, and mysteries of the Qur’an. Is it a crime, then, to read the Risale-i Nur, which is thus elevated and worthy of veneration, and teaches good morality and virtue and the truths of belief, and to copy out its parts, which bestow eternal happiness, or to serve it so that believers may profit from it with respect to their belief? Is that inciting the people against the Government? And to visit the author of such a blessed and sublime work, a monument of light who is decked out with the highest degree of belief, laudable morals, and virtue and is at the very summit of human perfections, and to be brothers on the way of the Qur’an and belief with the Risale-i Nur students, who with their good works, veracity, and unshakeable belief this century, have defended the honour of Islam and truths of the Qur’an, and upheld them, and who have no aim other than winning God’s pleasure — is to do these things to found a political society? Which equitable, unsullied conscience could inflict a punishment for these?

Judges of the Court! The Risale-i Nur’s veracity has been affirmed by the most advanced scholars, and with its gaining for its readers the highest level of belief and greatest love of Islam, there is no doubt that all its Words, and its Flashes and Rays are luminous commentaries on the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition. They are all brilliant suns which dispel spiritual sicknesses and darkness. As is testified to by his pure and upright life, our Master has passed his life on the way of belief and the Qur’an, and enduring every sort of difficulty and distress, has by disseminating the truths of the Qur’an worked to save the sons of this blessed nation in particular from the awesome attacks of communism and every sort of irreligion, and was charged with the sacred duty of writing the Risale-i Nur at this time. He does not instruct us (God forbid!) in immorality and spoliation. He teaches us the saving of belief, the highest cause and most momentous question in the world of humanity. It is most certainly a Divine favour that for twenty-five to thirty years he has striven with the Risale-i Nur to save the religious belief of hundreds of thousands of believers, especially by teaching belief, the greatest happiness in life and its most important purpose, to unfortunates like myself who knew nothing of Islam. We say the following to those who in a way diametrically opposed to reality, consider him to be harmful for the life of society and deny his sacred service of belief and work for religion:

If it is a crime to adhere to God, and obeying the injunctions of religion, save people from terrible calamities such as immorality and being without religious belief, and to make them happy with the permanent happiness of Islam, then he may be said to be harmful to society. It is otherwise the greatest calumny and an unforgiveable crime. The Risale-i Nur’s aim is not this world, it is the never-ending happiness of the hereafter and the pleasure of the Eternal Enduring One, the Compassionate One of Beauty, one shadow of the manifestation of Whose beauty is all the beauty and good in this world, and one flash of Whose love is Paradise together with all of its subtle wonders. Having a thus Divine, sacred, and truly elevated aim, a thousand times over I declare the Risale-i Nur to be free of all transitory things such as inciting the people against the Government. And we seek refuge with God from the evil of those who with slander of this sort try to crush us and prevent us from working for belief or from learning about religion.

Judges of the Court! As is indicated by thirty-three verses of the Qur’an, and pointed out by Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and Gawth al-A‘zam (May God be pleased with him) and hundreds of investigative scholars, the Risale-i Nur is a light of the Qur’an those who adhere to which will save their belief, God willing. It most definitely cannot be extinguished or be lost. For example, the attacks made on it these last twenty-five years with the intention of eliminating it, have been the cause of its spreading and shining out in extraordinary fashion. For its Owner is the All-Glorious Monarch in Whose power and under Whose command is everything from pre-eternity to post-eternity. For its truths are the Qur’an’s truths, and through His protection and grace, Almighty God will always make it shine out, God willing.

Judges of the Court! If it is a crime to read and write out the Risale-i Nur —which teaches belief and Islam with the highest love and fervour, and recognizes no aim or purpose other than Divine pleasure, and is certainly a supreme miracle of the Qur’an this age and a luminous commentary on it— and to give its treatises, which teach the truths of belief, to one’s believing brother; and if the bonds of religion and Islamic brotherhood, which are enjoined by religion, and the sacred, Divine fraternity of uniting on the way of the Qur’an and belief for love of God constitute a political society, for me to belong to such a society is the greatest good fortune, and is a happiness greater than that afforded by any favour or award. Endless thanks be to Almighty God, Who bestowed on a wretch like myself the great favour of being a Risale-i Nur student, which gains such happiness and good fortune for a person. My last word is:

For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. * God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust — He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!

Mustafa Sungur,

Teacher

* * *

[Mustafa Sungur’s Supplement for the Court of Appeal]

1. The Criminal Court: My reading the Risale-i Nur and writing it out and giving a part of it to a needy believing brother so that he might benefit from it was called “inciting the people against the Government,” and deemed an offence. However, in my written objections to this charge I said: the Risale-i Nur, which is supposed to incite the people against the Government, is a true Qur’anic commentary. With all its parts it teaches the truths of belief, and bestows the greatest happiness on those who read and write it. Its aim is not anything transitory such as inciting the people against the Government, the way of disruptive, immoral layabouts; it is Divine pleasure, the most perfect of all happiness and good fortune. I am proud to read and write out the Risale-i Nur, which has gained for me the highest virtue and belief, the sweetest bounty, so that I am its luckiest student and most powerless servant. Although I said that I knew to be its student was a supreme Divine gift, and that I constantly thank my Sustainer who granted this vast bounty to a wretch like myself who was not worthy of it, without basing it on any law or evidence, my adherence to belief and Islam was deemed a crime, and entirely contrary to truth and right I was punished.

2. While studying in Kastamonu Gölköy Institute, I myself witnessed the irreligion taught us by some teachers. They said, God forbid, that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had written the Qur’an, Islam was now abrogated, civilization had advanced, and that it was a great error and backwardness to follow the Qur’an this century. One day even, a teacher said that because Muslims performed the obligatory prayers and thought of the hereafter, they suffered constant distress and passed their lives unhappily; and that in the mosques of Islam there was a deathly atmosphere, while the Christian churches were always happy and full of life, and that with their musical instruments and other amusements, they enjoyed life and passed their time happily. They tried to break the bonds with Islam and belief in our hearts, and instil denial and disbelief in their place.

Then if through reading several treatises from a peerless light of the Qur’an like the Risale-i Nur —which pours out from the Qur’an’s effulgence, and proves with brilliant evidences and arguments the truths of belief and Islam, and that the religion of Islam is a never-dying inextinguishable sun and means whereby humanity may attain happiness and well-being— a wretch in whom had been instilled the above poisonous ideas and whose spirituality they had wanted to kill with their noxious irreligious lessons, and had even been carried away by them and (God forbid) believing in those ideas had begun to disseminate them — if he had come to believe in the Qur’an, would not his offering the endless joy and happiness he felt to the compassionate, loyal, and true hero Ustad Bediuzzaman, who had gained these for him through the blessed Risale-i Nur he had written; would not his telling the Revered Master, who had been charged with the burdensome duty of writing the Risale-i Nur, how it had saved him from his former life of heedlessness and misguidance, leading him to belief and light, and how it was a sun of guidance and means of happiness for all humanity, and a Divine favour for all men and particularly for believers; and would not his calling “the destruction and corruption of a covert organization of the Sufyan,” those who with their terrible aggressive assaults on the Qur’an and Islam, as described above, were urging the sons of this heroic Muslim nation to embrace irreligion, and trying to raze the sacred, Divine foundations of Islam, to whom millions of people are bound and destroy their eternal happiness and feeling compounded regret and disgust at the lunatics who applaud them and their base, aggressive, tyrannical destruction; and would not his saying to his former fellow students, who had fallen into doubt concerning their faith: “Come, let’s give up following the lusts and whims of our souls; let’s bow before the truths of the Qur’an and hurry to the Risale-i Nur medrese, the guide to happiness this century. Let’s leave those lying scoundrels whom we have been applauding for months or years and reject the falsehoods they showed to be the truth, and attach ourselves to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s teachings and take them as our master. Let’s turn our backs on the darkness and embrace the light;” would not these all arise from the joy he found in his belief and his love of the Qur’an and Islam, and from his adherence to them, and his devotion to his nation, and his desiring everyone to acquire true, verified belief and attain infinite happiness?

Is it a crime to attach oneself to God and proclaim that Islam is the loftiest religion and the bringer of virtue and happiness? At a time when with lies and slander, from every side there are overwhelming attacks on the Qur’an and Islam, and attempts are being made to refute the Qur’an and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), which are extremely elevated, sacred, and precious, yet books which spread irreligion and atheism and rebellious, transient, worthless wretches who attack Islam are held in respect and innovations and the unlawful are applauded — at such a time is it a crime to believe and proclaim the sacredness and loftiness of the Risale-i Nur and that as a miracle of the Qur’an it is a Divine Light and dominical gift which explains and proves decisively and clearly the elevatedness, veracity, and sacredness of the Qur’an and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him); and both God’s existence and that the universe with all its beings and all its members and systems testifies to its Creator’s necessary existence and unity; and because he possesses reason and can think and is the most comprehensive mirror of the Divine Names man is a sort of monarch over all other creatures; and that if he has a relationship with God through worship and belief and preserves himself against misguidance and vice and grievous sins, he becomes worthy of rising to the highest of the high, superior to all beings, and an esteemed guest who will be forever happy in Paradise, but if he denies his Creator through associating partners with Him and rebellion, or through heedlessness and misguidance, he falls lower than an animal, descending to the lowest of the low, coming to deserve everlasting Hell and unending torment and torture; and that the Qur’an is the true Word of God, which is constant, and that its injunctions and commands do not, and cannot, change; and that mankind’s true and permanent happiness is possible only through following the Qur’an’s commands and adhering to them?

The reading of novels and stories, written against Islam for five or ten minutes illicit pleasure, and the publishing of books extremely dangerous and harmful for the country and nation, and their being praised and recommended are not considered crimes, so can it be deemed a crime if we read and write out the Risale-i Nur, which describes the Sun of Islam —which hundreds of millions of people have followed and in which they have found true happiness— or enumerated its elevated characteristics, which we lack the ability to praise? Can anyone who has an atom of belief in his heart and desires the well-being of the country and nation consider the above to be crimes?

Respected Judges of the Appeal Court! This case presented in your elevated presence is directly the case of belief and the Qur’an. It is the case of the eternal happiness and salvation of millions of people. Concerned with this case in effect are foremost God’s Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and all the prophets (Peace be upon them), and all the saints and innumerable people of reality and believers, as well as all our forefathers who have departed for the eternal realm. You may now win the love and good will, the prayers and intercession, of those millions of the people of reality. The elevated reality called the Risale-i Nur is before you. Is its aim the lowly, transient ranks and positions of this world, or to win God’s pleasure, the greatest happiness, the purest joy, and highest good fortune? And does it encourage people to be immoral, or does it deck them out with belief and the highest morality and virtue?

Before you is the Risale-i Nur, which pours out from the miraculousness of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition and is a Divine Light. Since the greatest case facing people, more important than anything, is to win belief in order to be able to depart from this world for the realm of eternal happiness; and since through the effulgence of the Qur’an, the Risale-i Nur teaches the truths of belief, and as is testified to by hundreds of thousands of people who have read it and written it out, and as indicated by numerous Qur’anic verses and Hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH), and Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and many saints like Gawth al-A‘zam (May God be pleased with him), it has definitely won that case; certainly and without doubt, through your elevated love of truth and justice, above every sort of transient anxiety, you will understand and appreciate the Risale-i Nur’s veracious, Qur’anic face and its true value, and that its students pursue no aim other than God’s pleasure.

Judges of the Appeal Court! With his high morality, virtue and compassion our esteemed and elevated Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, strives to save people from the dense darkness of false ideas and eternal solitary confinement, and enduring the severest distress and torments has risen to the highest degree of perfection at this time through being charged by Almighty God with the sacred duty of publishing the truths of the Qur’an, yet entirely contrary to all truth and justice, he is cast into prison. Elderly, ill, and with no one, practising his beliefs and worship in most elevated fashion, possessing the most brilliant intelligence and learning, and having no aim other than saving the belief of people, the terrible suffering of our Master, who is seventy-five years old and truly loves humanity, in the intense cold of Afyon Prison, pierces the heart, causing the severest anguish. Trusting in your elevated truth-loving justice and true philanthrophy, we await the manifestation of justice’s compassion.

Mustafa Sungur

* * *

[Mehmed Feyzi’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

The indictment states that I am my Master, Said Nursi’s, chief scribe, and am firmly attached both to himself and to the Risale-i Nur, and have served them, and it deems this an offence. For my part, I accept the charge with all my strength and am proud of it. For I have a powerful, innate yearning for knowledge. Evidence for this is that when during the Denizli affair my house was searched, it was officially established that found in it were more than five hundred various scholarly books, some in Arabic. It is an unusual desire to study and extraordinary love of learning that made me collect these five hundred books, that not one person in a thousand would have at this time, despite my impecuniosity and young years.

Because of this natural capacity of mine, I was searching for a true master. Endless thanks be to Almighty God that He gave me what I was searching for afar, from close by. Yes, my Master, Said Nursi’s life testifies that his only aim in life has been knowlege and to learn the sciences of Islam. I have understood clearly both through my own observations, and from his published biography, and from what I have learnt from his old students, the innate love of learning that I have is found in my Master to an extraordinary degree, so that on his own in wondrous fashion, contrarily to all the other medrese teachers at this time, he has persisted in medrese teaching and endured every calamity. But then, because they did not understand my Master’s extraordinary situation, the politicians attempted to link him with a sort of politics, with which he has no connection, even throwing him into prison. But later Almighty God made his passion for knowledge into a key to the Qur’an’s truths, and the Risale-i Nur emerged, which has left all scholars and philosophers in amazement. Around that time, as a Divine favour I found close by in Kastamonu the Master I had been searching for all my life, whose nature was similar to mine but infinitely more elevated. I shall offer thanks for this to the end of my days.

Just as since early days, in order to preserve the dignity of learning my Master never accepted such things as charity and gifts, so he did not allow his students to accept them. He would bow before no one. In fact, not condescending to crouch down in the trenches in the front lines in the War, or even to enter them, he preserved the dignity of learning. Similarly, heroically preserving the honour of scholarship and teaching in the face of three awesome commanders, he was completely unmoved at their anger and silenced them. I therefore accepted him as my true Master, since I knew that he was someone who had sacrificed everything to preserve the high honour of this nation and country and the Turkish learned establishment. Even, if to suppose the impossible a Master so truly devoted to his country and nation had a hundred faults, they should be looked on tolerantly and not objected to.

A example showing that this country’s patriots in the Second Constitutional Period and the nationalists and patriots under the Republic appreciated in the name of the country and nation our Master’s extraordinary service to learning was that the Committee of Union and Progress government gave nineteen thousand gold liras for his university in the east called the Medresetü’z-Zehra. This was to be organized along the same lines of al-Azhar University. Its foundations were laid in Van Province, but it remained unbuilt due to the First World War. Then the first government of the Republic twenty-four years ago allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras on the agreement of one hundred and sixty-three deputies. Our Master’s nearly succeeding on his own in founding a large university similar to al-Azhar, which was brought into being only through the enterprise of thousands of teachers, shows that all patriots and lovers of their country, together with the teachers of the medreses (religious schools) should appreciate and applaud him. As for us, because we found such a Master, we decided to endure every sort of hardship and difficulty. I have boundless respect for him as an exceptionally learned scholar at this time, who through the effulgence of his learning and truths of his one hundred and thirty works has caused me to advance on the way of belief and knowledge. God willing, this respect of mine will continue for all eternity.

There is no covert organization which exploiting religion and religious feelings aims to breach public security, in connection with which the prosecution wants to have me convicted. Despite months of investigations and searches it has not been able to verify any such society, nor do we have any connection with such a thing. Our sole concern, within the framework of the laws of the Republic, is for the Risale-i Nur, which has undergone the toughest examinations and has met with due respect from the highest committees of experts and has been acquitted by authorized courts of law. This is not treason towards the country and nation, but scholarly striving in a way that is directly beneficial for country and nation. Other than this we have no political aim nor any other purpose. Thus, since our innocence and sincerity are clear in this matter, I seek the manifestation of justice from your just court and my acquittal, as in Denizli Court.

Prisoner, Kastamonulu Mehmed Feyzi Pamukçu,

Afyon Prison

* * *

[Ahmed Feyzi’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

Judges of the Court!

Is it not the duty and right of a believer to serve the Qur’an and the Prophet (PBUH) by meeting with a scholar of religion, reading and writing out his books about the truths of religion, and hastening to the assistance of his co-religionists? Is there any law prohibiting us from this service of religion? Is it a crime to criticize certain aspects of the atheistic immoral currents of our times? We are purely a body of religiously-minded people which has no connection whatsoever with politics or government. To think well of someone and consider him worthy is a personal opinion that may be held by anyone. We know Bediuzzaman to be the most elevated scholar of religion of our times. We know him to be someone who follows reality, and who expresses and explains the truths of religion without toadying to anyone. We call him a mujahid because of his service to religion and relying on the Qur’an’s unshakeable truths, his undertaking the defence of our country against the currents of immorality and disbelief which threaten it. In a country in which freedom of religion and conscience are the rule, we cannot be held guilty of an offence because of the views we hold in the light of our consciences. Therefore, we are not obliged to give account to anyone.

As for the matter of the persons foretold in Hadiths to come at the end of time: we did not fabricate these. They have their origin in religion. In a number of Hadiths, God’s Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) said that the life of his community would not exceed one thousand five hundred years. The major historical events up to that time, which would have the greatest significance for the life of his community and for the life of the world, he gave news of, calling them “the signs of the end of the world.” He drew the attention of the Muslim Umma to their evil. He said that those who were heedless and ignorant of these evils would meet with everlasting misery and loss. There are innumerable religious proofs of these. We believe in God, His Messenger, and the Qur’an. So as the result of this belief and belief in the Messenger’s veracity, should we not strive to save ourselves from everlasting perdition? Should we not see what is happening around us? Wondering, “Have those perilous times come? Don’t let it be us who are the generation that falls prey to those dangers,” should we not point out how they may be applied to existent religious truths? If we disregard the positive evidences before us and the proven scholarly truths which take us to the Divine existence, and supposing the irreligion of Europe to be the greatest means of civilization and sole mark of knowledge, we abandon our religion, who will save us from eternal perdition? Should we not think of this? Would a person of this mind who recognizes nothing superior to the Qur’an and its truths, throw himself into everlasting perdition out of fear of temporary punishments? Or would he attach any worth to transient values? Would he give up his duty of serving God, and His Messenger, and His religion? These then are the true factors tying us to Bediuzzaman. Is there any other source of religion that can silence the pre-eternal needs of our spirits?

The prosecutor recommends to us the thousands of Arabic books which fill the libraries but do not interpret the spirit of today. He himself and those who think like him may not like the compendium of knowledge, treasury of freedom, and elevated reality called the Risale-i Nur, and they may criticize it. That is a matter for themselves. But they may not interfere in our preferring this or that work, or our attaching value to them. We like the Risale-i Nur. And we know it to be a true, unhypocritical book on religion and a Qur’anic commentary. Values and value judgements are questions of conscience. No one can interfere in them. Yes, we agree that the Risale-i Nur’s author always teaches pure truth. The fact that he does not accept this does not shake our opinion. Moreover, our opinion is based not on his wonder-working in the physical realm, but on the wonders of his knowledge, the extraordinary manifestations of which we have observed in his teachings with the Risale-i Nur, which challenge all the world of knowledge. Can you show us a second Bediuzzaman who although his [official] period of study was no more than three months, spread such a brilliant light of knowledge; and with the wonders of his learning displayed a logic so advanced in the ultimate questions of science that they left even the loftiest thinkers in amazement; and in a language he learnt only in the second part of his life had such a captivating style of exposition, and such a gripping ardour; who overflows with love and passion, and is exuberant like a sea of belief, a treasury of Divine knowledge, an ocean of wisdom?

Do you consider it excessive that we consider to be Master, the monument of virtue and light who shows not the slightest inclination towards the pomp of fleeting, superficial ostentation; nor stoops to even the smallest benefit or pleasure; nor attaches any value to anyone who fawns at the feet of fleeting filth; who awaits nothing from anyone, nor asks for it, and accepts nothing offered to him; who displaying the best example of the purest chastity and enduring patiently, with forbearance, every sort of deprivation, has dedicated himself to the truth and to making known the lights of the Qur’an and knowledge of Muhammad (PBUH); and out of the abundance of his compassion weeps at the suffering of the country and nation; and who never gives up his work, which is for the happiness of those around him, despite all the betrayals he has suffered; and disregarding his own old age and aloneness, strives and battles with selfless, Divine exertion to save people from the pits of ignorance and whirlpool of denial? In addition to the wonders of his knowledge described above, he is worthy of being known and followed as an example of perfection and virtue because of this matchless self-sacrifice, self-sufficiency, and masterpiece of chastity and moderation, which he has shown at this time when moral values have been lost.

That is how we look on Bediuzzaman and his works. Is it solely because of our attachment to him, which arises from our belief, and our belief in the severe rebukes and reprimands of the Qur’an and Muhammad (PBUH) concerning unbelief and morality that he has involved us in politics, which are deemed fleeting filth? Or can it be called corruption to inform about God and His Messenger, the truth and the Qur’an some of the sons of our compatriots who for twenty-five years have been unable to learn the truths of religion and are heading for certain perdition, in order to save them from everlasting extinction, and to reform their unsullied spirits and innocent consciences?

Judges of the Court! We are in no way involved in politics. We know that for those like us who are not versed in politics, politics is a way beset with a thousand and one perils, dangers, and responsibilities. In any event we attach no importance to fleeting externals. We only look to the good face of the world, which takes us to Divine pleasure. We therefore vehemently reject the charge that we pursue politics or contest the concept of the state. If there had been any such intention, there would have been some small manifestation of it in twenty-five years. Yes, we have a negative front, a side which rebukes, turned to immorality and unbelief. This arises only from belief and our necessarily joining in the Qur’an’s severe expressions and comprehensive warnings about these things. If these reasons and this sincere, straightforward style of exposition do not convince you, sentence us to whatever sort of punishment you please. But do not forget that Jesus (Peace be upon him), who today has six hundred million followers, was sentenced to death like a common thief by the authorities of his time only because his heart beat for mankind’s happiness and he bore the trust of delivering the message.

Having spoken out freely, we shall be proud to face our conviction. With the cry of For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs, we open our hands to the Court of the Dispenser of Needs.

Prisoner, Ortaklar Bucagili Ahmed Feyzi Kul

Afyon Prison.

* * *

[Ceylan’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

Making a mountain out of a molehill, because of my service to my Master and the Risale-i Nur, of which I am proud, the prosecution portrays me as a prominent diplomat or cunning plotter. In reply to his apportioning me a large share of the imaginary crime with which the Risale-i Nur is charged, I say this: I am closely attached to my Master, Bediuzzaman, from whom, by reading his works on religion, belief, and morality, I have profited to such an extent that I would readily sacrifice my life for his sake. However, my attachment is not as the prosecution said, harmful for the country and nation, in order to incite the people against the state; it is rather an unseverable attachment on the way of saving myself from the eternal annihilation of the grave, from which no one can escape, and saving the belief of my brothers in religion, which, like me, they are in need of saving in these perilous times, correcting their conduct, and becoming useful members of the nation and country.

I am one of those close to him. From time to time for four years I have proudly attended on him. During this time, I have witnessed nothing other than total virtue. I have not once heard him say a single word about his being the Mahdi or the Regenerator of Religion. More than a hundred thousand copies of the Risale-i Nur and hundreds of thousands of pure intentioned Risale-i Nur students, who have saved their belief by reading its treatises, can testify that he is the very epitome of humility.

My blessed Master considers himself to be a Risale-i Nur student like us. This is what he claims. This may be seen easily in many of his letters, which you have in your possession, and especially in the Treatise On Sincerity, which is included in The Staff of Moses Collection (Asâ-yi Mûsa). He repeatedly says in his letters: “Enduring truths like the sun or diamonds cannot be constructed on transient persons, and transient persons cannot lay claim to those precious truths.” So to accuse him of boasting and of claiming to be the Mahdi and Regenerator of Religion is not something anyone of intelligence would do. For if you read carefully and fairly all his treatises and letters, you will form the certain conviction that the like of this profoundly learned scholar of the times has not been encountered for centuries. He is a saver of belief the like of whom will not be encountered, who at a time the red sparks of communism are licking the eaves of our houses is a patriot far more useful and productive for the country and nation than an army. I am regretful that I was not earlier the student of such a work and the esteemed Master who wrote it.

Respected Judges of the Court!

With the idea of performing a sacred service for the nation, so that like me the sons of this land might profit from the Risale-i Nur, whose endless benefits I myself had experienced, I had printed A Guide For Youth (Gençlik Rehberi) in Eskishehir. I ask you: how contrary is it to justice that while service of the Risale-i Nur, which is a true and irrefutable Qur’anic commentary, and thus to belief of an unfortunate like myself should have met with praise and appreciation, and encouragement, we received this severe treatment?

I request of your just court that you give the decision for the Risale-i Nur’s freedom, for it is the sustenance of our spirits, means of our salvation, and key to our eternal happiness. If the circumstances, some of which I have mentioned and enumerated above constitute a crime in your view, I shall accept with total resignation the harshest penalty you can inflict.

Prisoner, Emirdagli Ceylan Çaliskan,

Afyon Prison

* * *

[Mustafa Osman’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I say in reply to the matters which have been put forward as offences, that I took part in the imaginary activities against the regime reputedly perpetrated by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who is accused of founding a secret society and by exploiting religious feelings, of being engaged in activities that might breach state security:

1. Yes, like many Risale-i Nur students, I began to collect the treatises of the Risale-i Nur and to read them with the intention of receiving a civilized, religious education and learning Qur’anic conduct, which is a national characteristic and is worthy of true Turkism and Islam, and an historical honour and virtue of ours. I intended to become a useful member of the country and nation, and defend it against the effects of foreign ideologies.

How could it be considered an offence at a time vice and immorality have trampled the honour and mode of action of our forefathers, which found fame in history, and poisoned the life of society, and have spilled into the streets to the extent of disgusting even the immoral, alarming public opinion, so that it is gossiped about in every home, and this grievous situation, which gives rise to criticism in the form of news about the moral police and of various other subjects in the newspapers and magazines, which are the tongue of public opinion, is rapidly spreading and quite simply becoming general — to read the Risale-i Nur Collection at such a time, which saved me as it saves all Muslims who read it; and to give it to my compatriots when they insistently asked for it, who knew and heard that I read these works, so that it could rectify their morals too; and so to save through the Risale-i Nur and its effective teachings these people who had lost their moorings and were becoming harmful for the country and nation; and to give it to them to read since it would assist them to become useful to humanity — how could this be considered an offence? It is the luminous, effective weapon of Bediuzzaman in his sacred, moral struggle, which is worthy of praise and appreciation. With his effective teachings about religion he is a mujahid, fighting against the dangerous red plague of communism which is spreading like an epidemic even in our country and makes the whole world tremble — how could it be considered a crime for myself to have given these treatises to people when they have thus in twenty years transformed into useful members of the country and nation twenty thousand people, and probably more? And how could charges be made against its respected author in the same way? I ask your consciences.

2. The Hadith which the prosecution stated was “false” and therefore unscholarly, is said to be “sound” in the books of Hadiths. So having been accepted by the scholars of Hadiths, and the fact that the leading Istanbul scholars both before the Constitutional Revolution and during it accepted Bediuzzaman’s interpretations and replies, which are now found in the Fifth Ray, to the questions they asked of him in connection with the questions asked of them by the Japanese and the Anglican Church, and those prominent scholars did not object to his replies establishes definitely that the Hadith is sound.

Moreover, the truths of not a part of the Risale-i Nur, but of all of it, are so powerful that no true Islamic scholar could object to them, so that foremost the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and true scholars throughout the country since the Constitutional Period, have been compelled to accept and respect them. The objections of one or two individuals who are known as scholars but who are bereft of true knowledge do not refute those truths and powerful proofs. They are merely ridiculous. Is it a betrayal of the regime to write a letter of thanks to the author of the Risale-i Nur because one is captivated by the truths of the Qur’an and belief it contains, the spiritual and material benefits of which have become clear, and which are studied all over the country by every class of person in order to save their eternal lives from extinction, and from which thousands of compatriots have profited and so are eternally indebted to their esteemed author, since he has saved their belief; is it a betrayal, relying on the undeniable truths stated by the Hadith which is deemed to constitute an offence, to consider certain acts and works to have appeared in this country, which are referred to by the Hadith, and supposing it to be thus, relying on the statements of numerous Islamic scholars, to see it as a victory of the Qur’an which will lead to the repairing of certain errors and to be pleased at this, and to privately put this view to a Master from whose works one has received effulgence; and to hope that the country and nation will not fall into anarchy and thus into the embrace of the Red Peril, which causes the whole world to tremble — is this a betrayal of the regime? Is it to malign the reforms? And although several courts of law have acquitted that scholar, who is utterly deserving of commendation and appreciation, and although he is very elderly, a recluse, and has no one, to charge him with the same matters, arrest him, put him into solitary confinement, and send him to trial, and for us too, to consider to be a crime these scholarly views of ours and our working to save our belief, and to put these forward as evidence of our supposed breaching of state security, is the just decision of which conscience? I ask this of your court and leave it to your consciences.

3. The charge of “Carrying Bediuzzaman’s picture as though it was something sacred, and collecting his letters, and corresponding with him.” To carry not a simple picture, but one decorated in gold and jewels, of the universal scholar and esteemed author who through his works has saved my spiritual life and eternal life from extinction, and allowed me to experience the pleasure and happiness of physical life, and who has saved the belief of thousands like me, and to send him letters and congratulate him, and to get to know others who love him, is my right as it is for all members of humanity. I do not suppose this right of mine to constitute a crime, and finally I say: as the police of two provinces and numerous towns can testify, in order to be able to serve this country, nation, and humanity, for long years the Risale-i Nur students have saved themselves through the Risale-i Nur from being aimless, and have been the means of saving others. Although the patriotic service they have performed for this country and its government has in reality been greater than a police force of thousands, and is worthy of recognition and appreciation, it has been misinterpreted and we have been arrested, as though deliberately on behalf of some foreign power. All our work and businesses have gone to rack and ruin and our wretched families and children have been left weeping and destitute. Which laws of democracy does this conform to? Which just decisions of which just judges? I request from your respected Court, which executes justice in the name of the just Turkish nation and its high Assembly, that these works, the numerous benefits and advantages of which are obvious and undeniable, are left free and that we are acquitted.

Prisoner, Safranbolulu Mustafa Osman,

Afyon Prison

* * *

[Hifzi Bayram’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I am charged with reading some of the works —which teach the truths of the Qur’an and belief and are of great benefit for the nation and country— of the Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman, who is accused of attempting to breach state security by exploiting religious feelings; and with obtaining and giving —on request— to a number of acquaintances some of his treatises, from which I had greatly benefited in respect of belief and religion and which had led me to acquire Qur’anic manners, in the hope that it would be for their good and they would profit from his teachings about belief, and religious and moral instruction, a national characteristic. In addition, on the pretext of a number of acquaintances sending letters of a friendly or scholarly nature to my address, it is alleged that I am a partner in the crime of the above-mentioned. I object as follows to these matters with which I have been charged:

1. I did not read the Risale-i Nur, which has previously been tried and acquitted and returned to its author, and has been praised and recommended by the country’s religious scholars, with any idea of causing trouble in the way insisted on by the prosecution. I saw every part of it to be nothing but an important Qur’anic commentary which effectively teaches Islam and gives religious instruction, the way to make people virtuous and advance morally, and to save nations from falling into the abyss. Since this is the case, I do not suppose that to read these with the intention of study or maintaining my religion and belief, and to give them to others, and to obtain them for others, constitutes a crime. For nowhere at all has any incident harmful to the country and nation in which Risale-i Nur students have taken part been witnessed or recorded by the police. In addition, it is totally false to say: “they study and read them secretly” and to arouse doubts about a secret society. Because, whether scholarly or political, the Risale-i Nur students have no connection with any society, secret or open. In fact, several years ago the same charges were made against Bediuzzaman and many others, and they were sent for trial in Denizli Criminal Court, and although all the parts of the Risale-i Nur were scrutinized in the closest detail, they were all acquitted. I do not know the extent to which the imperatives of justice demand putting forward as evidence for a serious crime such as breaching state security and betrayal of the regime, reading a work which itself and whose author have been acquitted, and giving it to others to read; so I refer it to your consciences!

2. Among the charges was my being sent, while under arrest, a treatise by someone I do not know from Bayezid. I have not seen this treatise. I am uninformed about what it contains. If it is the Risale-i Nur, I accept it. You ask, and I shall reply. Only, I learnt that the prosecutor mentions the Mahdi in the indictment, and my Master is innocent of all such accusations. Just as I have never heard him mention such a thing, so I have not seen it in any of his works. Moreover, at every opportunity he has forbidden his students to venerate him, exalt him, or accord him any rank, and he has rebuked those who have written him such letters. We have always known him to be an important scholar who seeks no rank or position, and to be a precise and exacting hoja.

Prisoner, Hifzi Bayram

[Emirdagli Mustafa’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I say briefly in reply to the prosecution’s accusing me of being a partner in my Master Bediuzzaman’s imaginary crime:

The service I have performed for my Master and the Risale-i Nur, without having the very slightest regret, resembles a mere droplet before an ocean of grace and favour. Just as tiny fragments of glass are sacrificed on the way of obtaining a treasury of precious diamonds, so I am every moment ready to sacrifice my life for the Risale-i Nur, which is the means of saving my everlasting life. I consider it would be a terrible betrayal of my blessed Master, the leading scholar of the age, and of his sole aim, belief and the Qur’an, to abandon the Risale-i Nur, the innumerable benefits of which, worldly and for the hereafter, have been established, because of temporary imprisonment and its unimportant hardships and so that no harm should come to our brief, tumultuous lives in this world, or to be indifferent towards the Risale-i Nur and my Master. I do not want to deviate even an iota from what he permits and commands.

Respected Judges of the Court!

Why does it seem excessive that despite my indigence I should be the student of a leading religious scholar who has formed a powerful front against communism, which aims to scatter its poisonous microbes over our beautiful land? This surely proves that the riches of the Risale-i Nur far exceed worldly riches. Leave my Master and the Risale-i Nur free for ever so they may save the belief of the Turkish youth like myself, and the young people may become useful members of the country. The need of us Turkish youth for the Risale-i Nur is thousands of times greater than the need for air of someone held in close confinement, and the need for light of someone in pitch blackness, and the need for food and water of someone parched with thirst and hungry in the desert, and the need for a life-saver of someone drowning in the sea. It is therefore not conformable with the honour of justice, because of the above facts, some of which I have mentioned, to condemn Bediuzzaman, who has won our greatest good opinion and regard, and to whom we are attached with unbreakable bonds, and the many unfortunates who are his good-intentioned students, and leave us to rot in prison.

Prisoner, Emirdagli Mustafa Acet,

Afyon Prison

* * *

[Halil Çaliskan’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

Respected Judges of the Court!

In the indictment read to me by the prosecution my service of my Master is cited as a serious crime. My Master came to our town in 1944 and resided there for four years. For forty years he has given up all the pleasures and comforts of the world and worked only for belief and Islam and to save the eternal happiness of Muslims, particularly in our country, on the way of belief and the hereafter. With the Risale-i Nur’s teachings on belief and morality, he has constructed a barrier against the noxious ideas of communism, which are causing great harm to our religion, and particularly among our nation, which is Muslim and Turkish. The material and spiritual harm it causes is excessive. He prevents too similar things harmful to the nation. Does my proud service on and off for three years of the Risale-i Nur and my Master, who is worthy of being applauded by all the scholars in the world, constitute a crime in the view of justice? It is also shown to be a crime that I left being a tailor to perform that service. But if I was to sacrifice my very life for the Risale-i Nur, which is truth and reality and a true commentary on the Qur’an, and for my Master, should it be deemed a serious offence and myself known as a traitor to my country? I ask you.

Respected Chairman of the Court! I read some parts of the Risale-i Nur and I wrote some out. Endless thanks be to Almighty God that due to the yearning I had long felt for knowledge, I began to profit from these treatises. Although I was closely concerned with them, I saw nothing in them about inciting the people against the Government, or disturbing public order, or founding a secret society. Nor did I hear anything from my Master about being the Mahdi or Regenerator of Religion, or anything about such movements. The sole aim of the Risale-i Nur and our Master and us students is to serve Islam, and particularly the Turkish nation, with respect to belief and morality. Certainly, the Risale-i Nur and its servants should not be harassed because of this service. Our sole aim and purpose was this and nothing else. And we performed this duty for God’s pleasure. In any event we could not exploit such a sacred duty for the world or any worldly benefit, and would not stoop to such a thing. We therefore cannot endure the prosecution’s charges against the sincere Risale-i Nur students, who have belief in their hearts, are preoccupied with the hereafter and have no worldly ambitions whatsoever, of founding a secret political society, which never at any time occurred to us.

Respected Judges of the Court! We believe that you have understood the aims, intentions, and nature of the Risale-i Nur students, and have formed the opinion that we have no connection with the crimes with which we are charged by the prosecution. We therefore request from your high court and your consciences that our books are returned to us, free, and we are acquitted.

Prisoner, Emirdagli Halil Çaliskan,

Afyon Prison

* * *

[Mustafa Gül’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I am not a member of any secret society. In any event, my Master Bediuzzaman Said Nursi never founded any such society. He always taught us about the truths of the Qur’an and warned us severely against being concerned with politics. I am only the student of the great Master Said Nursi. I am bound to him and to the Risale-i Nur with all my heart and spirit. I would be happy with any punishment inflicted on me for the sake of the Risale-i Nur and my Master. Through his works, my Master saved my belief and life in the hereafter. His aim is to save all Muslims and all our compatriots from unbelief and for them to win eternal happiness. It has become clear in all our trials that we have no connection with any political ambitions. Although the reality is this, we have again unjustly and irrelevantly been dragged to court. We have understood from this that they want to break our solidarity. Our solidarity is not turned to any worldly or political end or matter. We only have the very greatest respect for our Master. Those who read the Risale-i Nur acquire an extraordinary belief, Islam, morality, and perfection.

We are incapable of not having enormous love for our Master. I am attached with all my being to my Master and to the Risale-i Nur students. This attachment could not be severed or broken even if I was executed. I and all my brothers are innocent. We request with all our strength that the Risale-i Nur is left free. I request that my elevated Master and innocent Nurju brothers and myself are acquitted.

Ispartali Mustafa Gül

* * *

[Küçük Ibrahim’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

Respected Judges!

The crime with which we are charged is both irrelevant and pertains to the world, it is political. But you, esteemed judges, understood at first sight whether or not we were people who would be involved in politics. However, even if hundreds of authoritative people were to ensure that this cold and alien charge was a hundred per cent realized, and my intelligence was a hundred times greater than it is, because of the feeling the Risale-i Nur and its esteemed author have given me, I would flee with all my being from that temporary, fleeting political thrill and adventure, and spend it on the way of belief in the hereafter and being saved from Hell. Both our respect for and attachment to the Risale-i Nur’s worthy author, and reading and writing out the Risale-i Nur, and our corresponding with the Risale-i Nur students and our relations with them, all look directly to the hereafter, as was affirmed by Denizli Criminal Court and the Court of Appeal. So much so that because of the ideas we have acquired from the Risale-i Nur, we would not exchange these luminous beings for worldly and material values. We will persist in this belief until we die.

Respected Judges of the Court!

Since we are gathered together here due to this fearsome charge, I am bound by conscience and for the sake of the country to state an important fact: only in my own neighbourhood, due to the reform of people’s characters brought about by the Risale-i Nur, over a period of ten years, in full sight of everyone, foremost myself and many others have learnt the way home. Vice and waywardness have been transformed into happy family lives. Mothers and fathers now pray for those who were the cause of it. You may listen to the stories of many people of this sort, in our province and around it. Particularly in Denizli Prison, when the Risale-i Nur entered there, it had such an overwhelmingly beneficial effect on the prisoners that it is still talked about. It was the same when I arrived here at Afyon Prison; whoever I spoke to, they described their former states and present states, and spoke gratefully of the Risale-i Nur students, praying for them. These facts are well-known. I am astonished that love for the Risale-i Nur, which has reformed me and my fellows to this great extent, both socially, morally, and with regard to the hereafter, and especially is an important Qur’anic commentary, and love for its esteemed author, and to write letters of consolation to my compatriots, could have been something political. Out of this astonishment I say that there cannot be such a crime. At the most I can say that the covert enemies of the Qur’an and thus of the Risale-i Nur have made the judiciary and police suspicious about us for no reason, and have thus been the cause of our packing the prisons. For sure, the elevated judges will understand these facts, and placing their hands on their consciences will give their just decisions, concerning which good tidings are given by God Almighty, and they will make the Muslim Turkish nation, which throughout the country is eagerly awaiting their decision, grateful to them.

Prisoner, Inebolulu Ibrahim Fakazli,

Afyon Prison

* * *

FOOTNOTES

1. Qur’an, 3:173.

2. Qur’an, 9:129.

3. The severe earthquakes which occurred the four times the Risale-i Nur was contested proved that it would be “most regretable for this country.”

4. Qur’an, 6:164, etc.

5. The Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islâmiye was a learned body set up in 1918 to find solutions for the problems confronting the Islamic world, and to provide scholarly answers for attacks made on Islam. It was attached to the Shaykh al-Islam’s Office and was composed of nine permanent members and various officers. Bediuzzaman’s appointment was ratified by the Caliph in August 1918.

6. The Proclamation of the (Second) Constitution in July, 1908.

7. Bukhari, Fitan, 26; Muslim, Fitan, 101, 102; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Musnad, iii, 115; 211, 228, 249, 250; v, 38, 404-5; vi, 139-40. For this and the other Hadiths about the signs of the end of time, see, The Fifth Ray in the present work.

8. In 1922, during the Independence Struggle. [Tr.]

9. Sayyid Ahmad Sanusi. He took over the leadership of the Sanusiyya movement in North Africa in the early 1900’s, and fought alongside the Ottomans against Italian aggression in 1911. As a staunch supporter of the Caliphate, he was invited to Istanbul in 1918, and subsequently appointed ‘General Preacher’ in eastern Turkey and greatly assisted the Turks in the War of Independence. [Tr.]

10. The name given the revolt which broke out in the army in Istanbul in 1909 and resulted in the dethronement of Sultan ‘Abdulhamid. Despite playing a pacifying role, Bediuzzaman was arrested following the revolt along with many others and tried, but was acquitted. [Tr.]

11. The famous Shaykh Said Revolt which broke out in February, 1925 in eastern Turkey. Bediuzzaman strongly advised its leaders against undertaking any such action against the Government, as it would “... make Ahmed kill Mehmed, and Hasan kill Husayn.” [Tr.]

12. A minor incident which occurred in the town of Menemen in western Turkey 1930, but was blown up out of all proportion and brutally suppressed. Bediuzzaman was in no way involved in it. [Tr.]

13. It had formerly been a common practice to gather together in a single volume for constant reading Sura al-An‘am and other meritorious suras and verses from the Qur’an. [Tr.]

14. I said that in order to offer supreme thanks for a supreme Divine bounty like the radio, it should “recite the Qur’an so that all the people on the face of the earth could listen to it, and the atmosphere might become a hâfiz of the Qur’an.”

15. Qur’an, 9:129.

16. The basis and aim of the Risale-i Nur is certain belief and the essential reality of the Qur’an. For this reason, three courts of law have acquitted it in regard to being a tarikat. Furthermore, not one person has said during these twenty years: “Said has given me tarikat [instruction].” Also, a way to which for a thousand years most of this nation’s forefathers have been bound may not made something for which [the members of the nation] are answerable. Also, those who combat successfully those covert dissemblers who attach the name of tarikat to the reality of Islam and attack this nation’s religion, may not themselves be accused of being a tarikat. As for a society or community, it is a fraternity which look to the hereafter within Islamic brotherhood. It is not a political society, as three courts have ruled. They have acquitted it in that respect.

17. The fact that there were Christians and Jews in Islamic governments, and Muslims in Christian and Zoroastrian governments shows that opponents who do disturb public order or interfere in government cannot be legally interfered with. Moreover, one is not answerable for possibilities. Otherwise everyone would have to be sent to court and tried because of ‘possibility’, for everyone might kill other people.

18.Qur’an, 49:10.

19. The wrong meaning has been given in the Indictment, for it has deemed an offence some instances of the Risale-i Nur’s ‘wonder-working’ (kerâmet) which took the form of ‘slaps’. As though disasters like the earthquakes that occur when the Risale-i Nur is attacked are blows dealt by the Risale-i Nur. God forbid! We never said such a thing, nor wrote it. What we said in many places supported by proof was that like acceptable almsgiving, the Risale-i Nur is a means of repulsing disasters. Whenever it is attacked, it hides itself; then calamities seize the opportunity and assault us. Yes, confirmed by thousands of Risale-i Nur students and what they have observed, supported by hundreds of incidents and events and their ‘coincidences’,²⁰ which in no way could have been attributed to chance, as well as numerous indications and ‘coincidences’ of the Qur’an, some of which were even pointed out in court, I have formed the certain conviction that those ‘coincidences’ are a Divine bestowal indicating the Risale-i Nur’s acceptability and are a sort of wonder of the Risale-i Nur on account of the Qur’an.

20. ‘Coincidences’ (tevâfukat): the unintentional correspondence of words or letters in lines or patterns on one or several pages, or the ‘coinciding’ of apparently unrelated events. [Tr.]

21. In the eightieth of the hundred errors about these works in the indictment, the prosecution says: “The interpretations in the Fifth Ray are incorrect.”

The Answer: In the Fifth Ray, it is said: “God knows best, one interpretation is this.” What this means is: “It is possible that one meaning of the Hadith is this.” Logically, this cannot be proved wrong. It can be proved wrong only by proving its impossibility.

Secondly: Although for the past twenty years, indeed forty years, those who opposed me, and then those who tried to oppose the Risale-i Nur, have not refuted my interpretations on grounds of either logic or scholarship, and thousands of learned people —the religious scholars who oppose me together with the Risale-i Nur students— have confirmed them, and have not said “he’s been smitten by the evil-eye,” I refer it to your fair-mindedness to judge just how unjust it is for those who do not know how may Suras there are in the Qur’an to meet them incredulously.

In Short: The meaning of interpretation is one probable or possible meaning of a Hadith or Qur’anic verse out of many.

22. Qur’an, 2:156.

23. Qur’an, 4:11.

24. Qur’an, 4:176.

25. The same situation has now continued for seventeen months.

26 Qur’an, 3:173.

27 Qur’an, 8:40.

28. Qur’an, 9:129.

29. Qur’an, 2:275.

30. See, al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, xiv, 271, No: 33,436; Musnad al-Firdaws, iii, 447; Majma’u’l-Zawa’id, v, 186; Jam’u’l-Fawa’id, i, 849.

31. ‘Tevâfuk’: See page 407, fn. 20 above.

32. These two earthquakes coincided with Friday, 18.9.1948, in the morning. Signed in the name of the Risale-i Nur students being held in Afyon Prison, Halil Mustafa Mehmed Feyzi Husrev

33. Musnad, iv, 273; v, 220, 221; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa, i, 340.

34. At that time it was thus; now twenty years have passed.

35. Qur’an, 48:1, 3.

36. Inequitable Court! Could there be any reply more decisive than this? Signed, Husrev, in the name of the Risale-i Nur students.

37. Zübeyir Gündüzalp (1920-1971) was born in Konya Province, and became a student of Bediuzzaman while working as a telegraphist for the Post Office. He later became one of his closest students, displaying complete devotion to Bediuzzaman and sincerity in his service of the Risale-i Nur. He became one of the leading figures of the movement after Bediuzzaman’s death. [Tr.]

38. In his writings, Bediuzzaman mentions ‘has’ (special) by which he probably meant those that loyally and devotedly served the Risale-i Nur, and ‘erkan’ (leading; lit. ‘pillars’), those who in addition to their devoted service played a more organizing role. [Tr.]

39. See page 384, fn. 10.

40. Before finally going there sometime in the final months of 1922, Bediuzzaman was on several occasions secretly summoned to Ankara by Mustafa Kemal during the Independence Struggle, in recognition of his effective struggle against the occupying forces. [Tr.]

41. These events occurred in early 1909. [Tr.]

42. According to the famous Hat Act passed 25 November 1925, the wearing of European headgear became compulsory, and all other headgear was banned. [Tr.]

43. Qur’an, 2:156.

44. Qur’an, 3:137.

45. A petition was sent to the Cabinet fifteen years ago concerning this same matter. Now, since it has again arisen, I am obliged to send it again to the departments of government concerned.

46. See page 385, fns. 11, 12.

47. The Sixteenth Letter was written several years previously to Eskishehir and Denizli Courts, yet its rebuffing all the points of objection as though it had seen the three courts demonstrates clearly that it was the object of Divine bestowal and grace.

48. Tevafuk: See page 407, fn. 20.

49. Qur’an, 3:173.

50. Qur’an, 20:44.

51. Qur’an, 40:44.

52. Qur’an, 93:11.

53. 36.5 lbs. [Tr.]

54. It lasted a year.

55. About 2.8 lbs. or 1,300 grammes. [Tr.]

56. About 2.8 lbs. [Tr.]

57. Qur’an, 12:53.

58. Qur’an, 2:286.

59. The reason for these ‘sinces’ is this: I take no notice of the wrongs and tyranny perpetrated against my person and give them no importance. I say, “They are not worth worrying about,” and I do not interfere in the world.

60. Qur’an, 3:173.

61. Qur’an, 8:40.

62. This refers to Russia. [Tr.]

63. Recalling the imprisonment of Yusuf, related in the Qur’an, Bediuzzaman called prison ‘Medrese-i Yusufiye’, the School of Joseph, impressing on his students that prison was essentially a place of study and training. [Tr.]

64. Qur’an, 2:21:6.

65. ‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, i, 55; Muhammad al-Shaybani, Sharh al-Sirat al-Kabir, i, 11.

66. See, page 445, footnote 38.

67. Sirran tanawwarat: a phrase taken from the qasidat al-Jaljalutiyya, attributed to Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.

68. Qur’an, 94:6.

69. Medresetü’z-Zehrâ: the Islamic university Bediuzzaman had since his early youth endeavoured to found in eastern Anatolia, in which the modern and religious sciences would be taught side by side, and which he intended would play the central and unifying role in Asia that al-Azhar plays in Africa. Despite twice receiving funds for it and actually laying the foundations, it was never completed due to the vicissitudes of the times. Although it was not realized in the form he had originally foreseen, while in Kastamonu (1936-’43), he wrote: “Endless thanks be to Almighty God for He has made the province of Isparta into a Medresetü’z-Zehrâ, which has long been the goal of my dreams, —into an al-Azhar University.” See, Kastamonu Lahikase (1960), 172. [Tr.]

70. Husrev Altinbasak (1899-1977) was from Isparta and became one of Bediuzzaman’s leading students. With his fine handwriting he wrote out hundreds of copies of the treatises of the Risale-i Nur. He is reputed to written nine copies of the Qur’an showing the ‘coincidences’ of the name of ‘Allah’. He was together with Bediuzzaman in the prisons of Eskishehir, Denizli, and Afyon. [Tr.]

71. ‘Certain, verified belief’: an approximate translation of tahkikî (Arabic: tahqiqi) iman. It also has the meaning of ‘ascertained through enquiry,’ ‘resulting from investigation,’ and ‘confirmatory.’ See also, page 569, footnote 1. [Tr.]

72. Alif: the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the numerical value of which is one, and which is written as a vertical dash. [Tr.]

73. Husrev, Re’fet, Tahiri, Feyzi, and Sabri.

74. Bayram: Arabic, ‘Id, the two big festivals in the Muslim calendar. Here, the festival marking the end of Ramadan. [Tr.]

75. This piece was written by Ustad Bediuzzaman’s lawyers, with his permission while he was being held in Afyon Prison, and was sent to the government ministries mentioned. Signed, Sungur

76. The squall was a revolt that broke out in the prison, but none of the Risale-i Nur students was involved.

77. A juz’ is a thirtieth part of the Qur’an. [Tr.]

78. Hizb al-Nuri: A forty-five-page Arabic piece which Bediuzzaman described as “manifesting the meaning of the Hadith ‘An hour’s reflective thought may be better than a year’s [supererogatory] worship,’ a luminous proof of the Risale-i Nur, a supreme invocation springing from it, and a small sample of it.” [Tr.]

79. Musnad al-Firdaws, iii, 447; al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, xiv, 271, No: 33436; Suyuti, Ta’rikh al-Hulafa’, 6, 16; Majma’u’l-Zawa’id, v, 187; Cam’u’l-Fawa’id, i, 849.

80. Qur’an, 2:61.

81. See, Qur’an, 88:20.

82. Qur’an, 17:44.

83. It is certainly bad that some of our brothers are unnecessarily denying that they are students of the Risale-i Nur, especially .... , and that they are concealing their considerable past services. But because of that service we should forgive them and not feel angry at them.

84. Bukhari, Fadl Laylat al-Qadr, 2, 3; Tahajjud, 21; Muslim, Siyam, 207-19.

85. Qur’an, 39:18.

86. Yesterday I felt happy and joyful. Then I realized that my brother in Nurs had eight months previously sent some Nurs honey in a flask to me in Emirdag. Yesterday it arrived here from Emirdag. I told them to quickly bring it to me. I waited, but it was not brought. My happiness suddenly turned into anger. It was the cause of that flask with the honey, which in my eyes was a hundred times more precious than the flask, being given to a stranger and sent to the market, and then the flask suddenly broke. I have sent an amount of that sweet honey, a gift from the village of Nurs, my birthplace, so that all my brothers may have a taste of it as a ‘Festival sweet.’

87. Qur’an, 68:1.

88. Qur’an, 51:1.

89. Impotently, I say in the name of my brothers: if necessary, we shall overtake them and advance far beyond them, God willing. We shall show that we are the heirs of our forefathers both in religion, and in heroism.

90. Ustad did not ask for this article to be published in the newspaper, but being both of great interest, and an instructive example, and very exciting, it has been included here. Husrev

91. Qur’an, 108:1.

92. After this defence and its addendum were sent to the Court of Appeal, the Court authorities sent a telegraph ordering that Zübeyir should be released from prison.