Chapter Three: Eskisherir

The Arrests Start

On 25 April, 1935, a number of Bediuzzaman’s students were taken from their homes and places of work and held in custody. Two days later Bediuzzaman himself and another group were arrested. It was the start of an event which very often bordered on the ridiculous, despite its seriousness, and was another example of the lengths the Government went to to reduce the standing of influential religious figures and to scare the population away from religion.

According to Süleyman Rüsdü, the affair began when Bediuzzaman went to attend the Friday prayers and thousands of people poured into the streets to see him. The town’s Governor and administrators took fright at this, and when a copy of the Tenth Word, Bediuzzaman’s treatise on Resurrection and the Hereafter, was found on the Governor’s desk, they panicked and sent urgent wires to Ankara saying, “Bediuzzaman and his students have taken to the streets. They are storming the Government Building.”[1. Çakin, Süleyman Rüsdü, in Son Sahitler, iv, 141.] In fact, this was part of the ‘plan’ of the authorities to provoke ‘an incident’, as we shall see. The houses of anyone known to have had any connection with Bediuzzaman were then searched and the arrests began.

Tenekeci Mehmed tells how someone sent word to him that this was happening, and he took all the parts of the Risale-i Nur he had in his house together with any other books to do with Islam or religion and buried them in the garden. At that point no less than eighteen police came and searched the house. Despite their thoroughness, they found nothing, and he was one of the few not arrested.[2. Sözer, Mehmed, in Son Sahitler, ii, 213-4.] Besides Isparta and its province, suspects were arrested in Milas, Antalya, Bolvadin, Aydin, Van, and other places. They had been denounced to the authorities as ‘reactionaries’ (mürteji), and were charged under Article 163 of the Criminal Code, which among other things prohibited the exploitation of religion and religious sentiments in any way damaging to the security of the state, and the formation of political associations on the basis of religion. There was questioning and statements were taken, and it was while this was in progress that Binbasi Asim Bey died. He had to make the choice between saying something that could be harmful to Bediuzzaman, and telling a lie, which his honour would not allow. So he uttered a prayer: “Lord! Take my spirit!”, and indeed, the Almighty did take his spirit, and he attained the rank of what Bediuzzaman called “an integrity martyr”.

Meanwhile, a furore was started in the press startling the country with stories of a “network of reactionaries” which had been uncovered. And as though to quell some major unrest which threatened the foundations of the state, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Shükrü Kaya, the Commander-in-Chief of the Gendarmerie, Kazim Orbay, and the Chief of Police travelled together to Isparta at the head of a detachment of gendarmes. Isparta and the surrounding country was put under the control of military units, and cavalry was posted along the road all the way from Isparta to Afyon. Rumours were spread throughout the region that Bediuzzaman and his students were going to be executed, and a general atmosphere of terror was generated. At the same time, in order to forestall any uprising in the eastern Turkey that Bediuzzaman’s being put in prison might provoke, Inönü, the head of that despotic government, set off on a tour of the Eastern Provinces.[3. Tarihçe, 192.]

On around 12 May, Bediuzzaman and thirty-one of his students were handcuffed in pairs as though they were dangerous criminals, and bundled into lorries at the point of bayonets. Unknown to them, they were to be taken to the prison at Eskishehir, some three hundred and thirty kilometres to the north. Thousands of the local people gathered when they were leaving, weeping families of those arrested, all the people weeping to see Bediuzzaman being taken from them in this pitiable state.[4. Çöllüoglu, Halil Ibrahim, in Son Sahitler, iv, 121.] One of the gendarmes sent from Ankara to escort them related this and the journey, first telling how they had been fitted out with new equipment and how Bediuzzaman had been described to them in the most exaggeratedly unfavourable terms, Shükrü Kaya, the Home Affairs Minister, calling him in derogatory fashion, “the Kurdish Hoja”.[5. Karaman, Ismail, in Son Sahitler, ii, 86-7.] In fact the order was to offload Bediuzzaman and his students in some isolated spot on the road and to shoot them. However, the officer in charge, Ruhi Bey, was sympathetic and did not carry out the order. Moreover, he ordered their handcuffs to be unfastened at the appropriate time, so they could perform the prayers. One student records that he was expelled from the army as a consequence.[6. Gülirmak, Mehmed, in Son Sahitler, i, 84.] They travelled as far as Afyon in the lorries, in which they had been permitted neither to speak nor to open any window for air, and still handcuffed in pairs and under the bayonets of gendarmes, were transferred to a train. The following morning they arrived at Eskishehir.[7. Çöllüoglu, Halil Ibrahim, Son Sahitler, iv, 121-3.]


Eskishehir Prison

Conditions in the prison were appalling. Bediuzzaman was put in solitary confinement, the others together in a ward. Their number grew from thirty-two to one hundred and twenty as they were joined by more Students arrested elsewhere. Once they entered the prison they were not allowed to visit the lavatories. After hours some warders came and dug a hole near the door and inserted a pipe. This is what they would have to use, they were not to be allowed out. With the filth, the bed-bugs, and the cockroaches, it was impossible to sleep at night. For twelve days they were kept without food. The fact was they were considered to be condemned prisoners doomed for the gallows.[8. Gülirmak, Mehmed, in Son Sahitler, i, 85; Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 315.] Notwithstanding the conditions, Bediuzzaman continued to write, completing five more treatises in the months he was here. These were the Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Ninth, and Thirtieth Flashes, and the First and Second Rays. He wrote them very much with his students in mind, suffering so unjustly this first imprisonment. He named prison the School of Joseph (Medrese-i Yusufiye), after the Prophet Joseph, the patron of prisoners.

Among those arrested were some that had only the very slightest connection with Bediuzzaman. It was another example of how the Government had blown up the case out of all proportion. These were members of the “network of reactionaries” which was threatening the state! A businessman from Bolvadin called Shükrü Shahinler related his own case and two others:

“I had become acquainted with Halil Ibrahim Çöllüoglu in connection with some business. He then wrote me a letter and requested a reply. The reply I sent was enough to send me to Eskishehir Prison and include me among the students of the Risale-i Nur. Also in that way I was able to see Bediuzzaman in Eskishehir and visit him.

“There was an optician in Aydin called Shevket Gözaçan. Because he had treated the eyes of one of Bediuzzaman’s students, Bediuzzaman wrote him a short note to thank him three or four lines long. They sent Shevket Bey to Eskishehir Prison because of this.

“And again, one of Bediuzzaman students called Ahmad Feyzi Kul had written Bediuzzaman a letter in Barla and signed it ‘The Müftü of Aydin’ [by way of a joke, aydin means ‘enlightened’, as well as being a place-name]. When the affair erupted, they sent the real Müftü of Aydin to Eskishehir although he was not connected in any way at all. Müftü Mustafa Efendi stayed in prison for months together with me. Eskishehir was somewhere where crazy mix-ups like this all came together.”[9. Sahinler, Shükrü, in Son Sahitler, i, 88.]

Perhaps the most crazy was the case of Bediuzzaman’s treatise on the wisdom of fasting in the month of Ramazan. When searching the houses of Bediuzzaman and his students for copies of the Risale-i Nur, the police had come across this treatise, called in Turkish, Ramazan’a Ait, which can mean either Belonging to Ramazan, or Concerning Ramazan. Besides the holy month of fasting, in Turkey it is also a man’s name. Thus, the police started searching the villages of Isparta for someone of that name. During the operation it was learnt that the neighbour of a house searched in some remote village was called Ramazan. So they came and clapped handcuffs on the unfortunate villager who knew neither how to read nor write, and sent him to Eskishehir Prison, despite his bewildered protestations of innocence. And there he remained for two months until the authorities admitted their mistake and released him.[10. Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 318-19.]


“The Prison Became Like a Mosque”

The prison authorities did not neglect to plant an informer in the ward where Bediuzzaman’s students were. ‘Postman Kâmil’ as he was called was doing his military service as a gendarme in Eskishehir when he was assigned to the job. Bediuzzaman sent his students a note one day stuck to the bottom of the teapot warning them not to speak against the Government as there was an informer amongst them. In the event, ‘Postman Kâmil’ was so impressed by Bediuzzaman and these completely innocent individuals that he himself began to perform the obligatory prayers and in his reports wrote that they were innocent. When describing these days to Necmeddin Sahiner in 1985, he told him:

“...While serving in the prison, I was startled by some sudden news: ‘Some condemned prisoners are coming, and they are hojas!’... Several days later Hoja Efendi [Bediuzzaman] arrived, and after him, the other hojas, his students...”

After Kâmil had been instructed to act as informer on the new arrivals, he joined them inside, ostensibly serving the sentence for some crime. He continued:

“Everyone got on well with each other in Eskishehir Prison... They used to perform the prescribed prayers all together, recite the Qur'an, and offer prayers.

“They emptied the juveniles’ ward for Bediuzzaman and put him in it. His students were somewhere else. The juveniles’ ward was large and Bediuzzaman stayed in it all alone. They [the authorities] were always speaking ill of Bediuzzaman to us, so that unavoidably I was influenced by what they said. Then one day I went and kissed his hand. He was a saintly old man, frail, and his hair quite long. His beard had grown a bit, since it had not been shaved. On my being cordial, he embraced me. I was very touched and started to weep. He began to tell me about his life... He said: ‘I only want the Risale-i Nur. I won’t give up these works of mine.’ I was very moved and affected by his terse words, and was sorry at the injustice done to such a great person. I wondered to myself: ‘Why do they bother this elderly man so much?’ Without letting it be known to anyone I kept on visiting him. One time Hoja Efendi drew two fingers over my forehead, and said to me: ‘Repent and seek forgiveness; provide food for sixty people and pay the blood-money.’ This was extraordinary. I hadn’t said I had killed someone, but with his saintly powers, he knew what I’d done. He was a great saint...

“I stayed in the Hoja’s students’ ward, so of course I was in close contact with them. It was not possible to think of anything else in those cramped quarters. They held good talks there, the prayers were performed, and the Qur'an recited...

“That dark prison ward shone with the lights of the Qur'an. Everyone would rise early for the prayers, and take their sections [a thirtieth part] of the Qur'an, then the recitations of the whole Qur'an would begin. After the morning prayer, the prayer for a complete recitation of the Qur'an would be said. From time to time one of the hojas with a fine voice [Mehmed Gülirmak] would sing a ‘kaside’. He used to send us into raptures. Then they would start reciting the Qur'an again. The whole Qur'an was recited several times each day. Those innocent people were saved by the readings of the Qur'an and the prayers. Those were good days..... The prison became like a mosque. If only I had been able to be like them. There’s another thing I witnessed in Eskishehir Prison which has stayed in my mind these fifty years; I always pray for Hoja Efendi’s soul. I had plenty to eat, but he made do with tea and a few olives each day. God’s grace was with him; just how great he was, I didn’t know...”[11. ‘Postaci Kâmil’, in Son Sahitler, iv, 147-50.]


Eskishehir Court

It is apparent from the overreaction of the Interior Minister, Shükrü Kaya, and the Government, the furore started in the press, and the rumours put around both in Isparta and Eskishehir, that the intention was to do away with Bediuzzaman. Quite likely when it is remembered that countless people, and especially men of religion, had fallen prey to the secularizing ‘Reforms’, accused of lesser ‘crimes’. The charges were several, and involved the infringement of the principle of secularism and of Article 163 of the Criminal Code through, among other things, exploiting religion for political ends “with the idea of political reaction” and organizing a group which might be harmful to public security. The Court was under pressure from the Interior Minister to condemn Bediuzzaman. It was thus a matter of life and death for him, and his students, but it was not himself he set about to defend in the Court, his defence speeches are for the most part defences of the Risale-i Nur. They are masterpieces which demolish with his usual straightforward reasoning the Government’s baseless suspicions concerning him and the trumped-up charges of the Court. The fact was that due to his percipience and foresight, Bediuzzaman had succeeded in counteracting the depradations into the Islamic faith of the people of Turkey. And more than this, with his writings, he had started a positive movement of renewal without apparently breaking the new laws. And he was able to prove this to the Court.

Thus despite the pressure brought to bear on it, the Court cleared him of all the charges, save one, which concerned a short treatise expounding some Qur'anic verses concerning Islamic dress. A topical subject, it made this the excuse, and arbitrarily sentenced Bediuzzaman to eleven months’ imprisonment, and fifteen of his students to six months.[12. Sualar, 312.] The remaining one hundred and two were acquitted; three had already been released. Bediuzzaman objected to this, for if they had been found guilty of the crimes of which they had been accused, it would have resulted in his own execution and at least imprisonment with hard labour for his students. He described it as “the sentence for a horse thief”, and demanded that they show in accordance with the law that his guilt necessitated either his execution or one hundred and one years’ imprisonment, or else give him and his friends and his writings their complete freedom and recover their losses from those who caused them.[13. Tarihçe, 229.]

Quite apart from the trumped-up charges and arbitrary sentence, Bediuzzaman was also denied his most basic rights when it came to preparing his defence, which he himself wrote and delivered. While it had taken the Court three to four months to prepare the case, he was allowed only a few days in which to prepare his whole defence; and for some parts of it only a few hours.[14. Lem’alar (Ott. edn.), 541 and 603.] So also, when he found writing by hand so laborious, he was denied a scribe. And he was not permitted to speak with anyone for two months.[15. Lem’alar (Ott. edn.), 563; Tarihçe, 205.] However, Bediuzzaman was not intimidated by these injustices; he was prepared to do all he could so that the Risale-i Nur be cleared and justice upheld. For he recognized the law and the process of the law, and was absolutely opposed to any activities which usurped it, damaged public security, and infringed the rights of the majority. Thus, in addition to answering the charges according to the existing laws, Bediuzzaman told the Court that copies of his defence were to be sent to the Interior Minister and the Governing Body of the National Assembly.[16. Lem’alar (Ott. edn.), 542.] And when, despite proving quite clearly that Article 163 was not applicable to him and his activities, he was found guilty of one charge by the Court, he applied for the case to be sent to the Court of Appeal.[17. Lem’alar (Ott. edn.), 615.] And in the event of the Appeal Court upholding the Court’s decision was prepared to send a petition to the highest level of government, the Cabinet.[18. Lem’alar (Ott. edn.), 624-32; Tarihçe, 229-32.]


Bediuzzaman’s Defence

One by one Bediuzzaman answered the charges made against him, supporting all his replies with evidence. He told the Court that since the best wile was to be without wiles, he had taken truth and honesty as the basis of his defence. Thus, he openly admitted his service to belief and the Qur'an, which being in no way concerned with politics was not contrary to the law, and exposed to the Court the plot that had been laid against him because of this service. To involve the legal system in this conspiracy, and attempt to achieve its aims in the name of the law, was a grave error and brought the law and legal system into disrepute. He was quite undaunted by the manifest purpose of the Court, his execution. He was after all the Bediuzzaman who had faced the Court Martial set up after the 31st March Incident in 1909, and won his acquittal. He was also the practised preacher and fine orator who had addressed thousands in Aya Sophia the same year, and thousands in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in 1911. Thus, Bediuzzaman started off his defence with a skilful move which turned the tables on those judging him. He was answering the main charge of “making a tool of religion with the idea of political reaction, with the intention of undertaking an enterprise which might damage public security”:

“God forbid a hundred thousand times that the sciences of belief with which we are occupied should be a tool for anything apart from Divine pleasure! For sure, just as the sun cannot be a satellite of the moon and follow it, so too belief in God, which is the luminous and sacred key to eternal happiness and a sun of the life of the hereafter, cannot be the tool of social life. There is no matter in the universe more important than the mystery of belief, the greatest question and greatest riddle of the creation of this world, so that belief can be made the tool of it.

“Judges of the Court! If this tortuous imprisonment of mine concerned only myself and my life in this world, you can be sure that I would remain silent like I have for these last ten years. But since it concerns the eternal life of many, and the Risale-i Nur, which reveals and explains the mighty talisman of creation, if I had a hundred heads and each day one was cut off, I would not give up this mighty mystery. And even if I am delivered from your hands, I cannot be saved from the clutches of the appointed hour. I am old and at the door of the grave. And so, consider only this mystery of belief concerning the appointed hour and the grave, which will come to everyone, one of the hundreds of matters the Risale-i Nur reveals...

“Can all the most weighty political questions of the world loom larger than death for someone who is certain of death, so that he can make it the tool of those questions. For the time of its coming is not specified. The appointed hour, which may come at any time to cut off your head, may be either eternal extinction or the despatch papers to go to a better world. The ever-open grave is either the door to a pit of non-being and eternal darkness, or the gate onto a world more permanent and full of light than this world.

“...Thus, Respected Sirs, is it at all fair, is it at all reasonable to consider the Risale-i Nur, which uncovers and explains hundreds of questions of belief like this, to be biased books exploiting political currents like harmful writings? What law requires this?... Also, since the secular Republic remains impartial according to the principle of secularism and does not interfere with those without religion, of course it also should not interfere with religious people on whatever pretext.”[19. Tarihçe, 194-5.]

Thus, Bediuzzaman established that it was the cause of belief and the Risale-i Nur that he was going to defend, and then went on to rebut the charges concerning his exploiting religion for political ends. The important questions of political reaction and secularism shall be discussed later.

After pointing out that he had refused Mustafa Kemal’s offers to work alongside the new regime in 1923 because he had already withdrawn from the world and politics, Bediuzzaman described to the Court five ‘Pointers’ showing that he had not “interfered in the state’s business”.

Firstly, for thirteen years Bediuzzaman had not so much as opened a newspaper, newspapers being “the tongue of politics”, which everyone he knew could testify to. Then, for the ten years he had been in the province of Isparta there was not the slightest hint to suggest he had made any attempt “to be involved in politics”, despite the great upheavals that were occurring during that time. His house had been raided and searched thoroughly, and all his private papers and books taken. And though these had been studied by both the police and the Governor’s Office, nothing of any political content had been found. Only, in all the works, they had found a few points they were able to raise objections about. These were mostly scholarly expositions on a number of Qur'anic verses to do with women’s dress and inheritance. However, he told the Court, these short pieces had been written years before while he was a member of the Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islamiye, and he had suppressed them when the new laws were passed, which they might be seen as opposing. Only one copy had been sent to someone by mistake. Furthermore, the fact that he had chosen to remain for nine years in a remote village proved Bediuzzaman’s desire to remain removed from all involvement in social and political matters. In fact he said, it was his not applying to the Isparta authorities to be released or transferred elsewhere that had “wounded their pride”, so that they had caused the affair to erupt by alarming Ankara. He told the Court:

“All my friends who are in touch with me know that it isn’t being involved in politics or attempting anything political, even thinking about it is contrary to my basic aim, my mental state, and my sacred duties towards belief. Light (nur) has been given me; the club of politics has not been given me...”[20. Tarihçe, 194-6.]

So too there was absolutely no evidence to support the charge of disturbing public security by exciting religious emotions. On the contrary, as Bediuzzaman pointed out, the Risale-i Nur upheld security:

“The Risale-i Nur, which consists of the sciences of belief, establishes and ensures public security and peace. Yes, belief, the source of good characteristics and fine qualities, certainly doesn’t disturb public order; it ensures it. It is unbelief that disturbs it, because of its bad character.”[21. Tarihçe, 198.]

Also, not one of Bediuzzaman’s students, or anyone who read the Risale-i Nur had been involved in any of the disturbances which had been given a religious colouring and had occurred since the ‘Reforms’ had been first enacted. In another part of his defence, Bediuzzaman said: “Those who receive instruction from the Risale-i Nur certainly do not get involved in any public disturbances, which are the cause of the blood of innocents being spilt and their rights being violated...”[22. Tarihçe, 207.] Furthermore, Bediuzzaman pointed out that if Article 163 was applicable to them, it was applicable also to the Directorate of Religious Affairs and all the imams and preachers whom they employed, since they encouraged religious feelings in the same way.[23. Tarihçe, 218.]

A further charge, and one that Bediuzzaman was to be frequently charged with, was with instructing in Sufism, for as was mentioned earlier, Sufism had been prohibited in 1925, and the orders disbanded and their tekkes closed. This was another quite baseless charge; as all the Risale-i Nur showed, Bediuzzaman was concerned with the truths of belief. He told the Court:

“As I have written in numerous treatises, this is not the time of Sufism; it is the time to save belief. There are many who enter Paradise without belonging to a Sufi order, but none who enter it without belief. It is therefore the time to work for belief.” There was no one who could come forward and say he had taught them Sufism. What he had taught to a small number of his special students was “not training in Sufism (tarikat), but instruction in the direct way to reality (hakikat).”[24. Tarihçe, 199.] In connection with this, the Court wanted to know what Bediuzzaman lived on. But his extreme frugality was well-known and easily established, as well as his life-long habit of not accepting presents or charity in any form.

Another of the main charges, which was also clearly trumped up, was that Bediuzzaman had set up an organization for political purposes. He was persistently questioned by the Court concerning this, and asked where he had secured the funds for it. Bediuzzaman’s reply was in four parts. He began:

“Firstly. And I ask those who ask, What document, what is there to suggest the existence of a political organization such as that? What evidence, what proof have they found that we have set up an organization with money that they ask so persistently? For the last ten years I have been in the province of Isparta under strict surveillance. I used to see only one or two assistants and in ten days one or two travellers. I was alone, a stranger, tired of the world, felt extreme disgust with politics, and had repeatedly witnessed how powerful political movements had been harmful and come to nothing through their reactions. I rejected and took no part in political movements when among my own people and thousands of friends at the most crucial opportunity, and fled from politics as though fleeing from the Devil considering it to be the greatest crime to damage through political partisanship service to true belief, which is most sacred and which it is not permissible to harm by anything... It is not only me, but the province of Isparta and all who know me, and indeed anyone who possesses reason and a conscience, will meet with disgust the slanders of those who say, There is such a organization and you are hatching political plots, and will say to them, You are accusing him due to your own malicious plans....” Bediuzzaman continued:

“Our business is belief. Through the brotherhood of belief, we are brothers with ninety-nine per cent of the people of Isparta and in this country. Whereas a society or organization is the alliance of a minority within the majority. Ninety-nine people do not form a society in the face of one man...” And he concluded answering this charge by pointing out how unrealistic it was to wonder where someone who had managed to live on a hundred lira in ten years and had worn the same patched cloak for seven years had obtained the money for the organization he was supposed to have formed.[25. Tarihçe, 201-2.]

The main point on which the trial rested, however, was the vexed question of secularism, in the cause of which all the radical changes since the establishment of the Republic had been brought about. What lay at the base of the accusations against Bediuzzaman was that he had opposed the Government and its programme of secularization. While for his part, Bediuzzaman denied that he had opposed it, arguing that “the secular republic means the separation of religion from [the matters of] this world”,[26. Tarihçe, 205.] and that “since, according to the principle [of secularism] the secular republic remains impartial and does not interfere with those without religion, so too of course it also should not interfere with those with religion on whatever pretext.”[27. Tarihçe, 195.] That is to say, secularism should ensure freedom of conscience, and of expression, and other liberties. This conflict of interpretations over the meaning of secularism and how it should be applied remains unresolved to this day. Thus, Bediuzzaman argued that the Risale-i Nur was a scholarly work – and as such should be unrestricted under the secular republic – which silenced materialism and naturalism and the philosophers of Europe and their attacks on the Qur'an; for more than thirty years his attention had been directed towards their attacks. The internal problems of the country, he saw as resulting from their corrupting influence.[28. Tarihçe, 198-9.] The Risale-i Nur dealt “powerful blows” at them and at the atheists who furthered their interests and plots in the country[29. Tarihçe, 221.] under the cover of secularization. It was these “intriguers” and “their irreligious committees” that Bediuzzaman opposed, not the Government. Bediuzzaman differentiated between the Government and these committees or secret societies working for the cause of irreligion, and warned about their infiltrating the Government and deceiving it. It was they who raised the outcries of “political reaction” and “exploiting religion for political ends.”[30. Tarihçe, 214.]

These accusations levelled at people who supported religion were not new, of course. Much use had been made of them after the Constitutional Revolution of 1909, when the debate between those who favoured secularization and total westernization and those who did not was often most virulent, as was described in an earlier chapter. At that time, Bediuzzaman told the court martial set up after the 31st March Incident: “Certain people who make politics the tool of irreligion accuse others of political reaction and exploiting religion for the sake of politics in order to conceal their own misdeeds.”[31. Divan-i Harb-i Örfî, 12.] And in the Republic, these slogans were used for the same ends: to blacken the names of Muslims and reduce their standing in the eyes of the population, and so by frightening the people away from Islam, to pave the way for the spreading of irreligious ideas. The Menemen Incident was a classic example, and part of the charge against Bediuzzaman was that he had attempted “to imitate” that revolt. It had been a minor incident which occurred in response to provocation, and amid great storms in the press had been suppressed brutally as a “reactionary movement”. Thirty-three people had been executed in the wake of it, and in numerous places repressive measures taken against people known to work for the cause of religion. Reprisals had also been taken against Bediuzzaman, although he had absolutely no connection with it.[32. Mektûbat, 60.] Bediuzzaman explained to the Court how forces representing the same interests had attempted to provoke a similar incident in Isparta, and having failed were now trying to deceive the judiciary. Saying also that the matter had to be seen in the light of the perpetual struggle between belief and unbelief, religion and irreligion, and that “everyone who is aware of the heart of this matter knows that these attacks on us are an assault on religion directly on behalf of irreligion.”[33. Tarihçe, 214-5.]

Thus, Bediuzzaman demanded a fair trial from the Court. He told it: “Among the branches of government, the one charged more than any other with preserving its independence, and, remaining free of outside influences, with considering matters impartially and without emotion is certainly the court.” Nevertheless, irregularities had taken place. For example, while his name was Said Nursi, in his questioning Bediuzzaman was always referred to as “Said-i Kurdi” and “the Kurd” in a way which would inevitably produce biased opinions. [34. Tarihçe, 203.] Indeed, the intention was to link Bediuzzaman with the constant opposition to the Government and rebellions in eastern Turkey, as is shown clearly from the slanderous campaigns orchestrated against him in the press at the same time. So also, despite his correcting them in all his statements, the dates his works were written were deliberately confused with the dates they were copied out and pieces written over a period of twenty years were shown as having been written in one year.[35. Tarihçe, 227.]

It was due to his “scholarly defence” of a few Qur'anic verses concerning women’s dress and inheritance, written before the foundation of the Republic and adoption of the new Civil Code, “against the objections and attacks of European philosophers”,[36. Tarihçe, 222.] part of which had been included in the Risale-i Nur as the Twenty-Fourth Flash, that the Court finally convicted Bediuzzaman and sentenced him in entirely arbitrary fashion to eleven months imprisonment, and as mentioned, fifteen of his students to six months. Sentence was passed on 19 August, 1935.[37. Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 308.]

An extraordinary event occurred while Bediuzzaman was being held in the prison, occasions similar to which were also recorded while he was in Denizli Prison. One day, the Eskishehir Public Prosecutor saw Bediuzzaman in the market. Being very surprised he went immediately to the Prison Governor and asked him why he had allowed Bediuzzaman out of the prison. The Governor assured him Bediuzzaman was being held in solitary confinement inside the prison. They went and looked, and sure enough Bediuzzaman was in his cell. The event became well-known, though the authorities had to admit they were at a loss to understand it.[38. Tarihçe, 192-3.]

Bab Tiga: Eskisherir


Penangkapan yang Mulai

Pada 25 April, 1935, sejumlah siswa dari Bediuzzaman diambil dari rumah mereka dan tempat-tempat kerja dan dilaksanakan di tahanan. Dua hari kemudian Bediuzzaman dirinya dan kelompok lain yang ditangkap. Itu adalah awal dari sebuah event yang sering dibatasi pada ridiculous, walaupun dengan kesungguhan, dan merupakan contoh lain dari panjang Pemerintah pergi ke untuk mengurangi berdiri tokoh-tokoh agama yang berpengaruh dan ketakutan penduduk jauh dari agama.

Menurut Süleyman Rüsdü, yang dimulai ketika urusan Bediuzzaman pergi untuk menghadiri salat Jumat ribuan orang dan dituangkan ke dalam jalan-jalan untuk melihat dia. Kota dari Gubernur dan administrator mengambil kengerian ini, dan apabila salinan kesepuluh Word, Bediuzzaman's mendalam tentang Kebangkitan dan akhirat, telah ditemukan pada Gubernur meja, mereka panicked mendesak kawat dan dikirim ke Ankara berkata, "Bediuzzaman dan siswa telah dibawa ke jalan-jalan. Mereka adalah angin ribut Gedung Pemerintah. "[1. Çakin, Süleyman Rüsdü, dalam Anak Sahitler, iv, 141.] Sebenarnya, ini adalah bagian dari 'rencana' yang berwenang untuk memprovokasi 'sebuah insiden', seperti yang kita akan lihat. Rumah dari orang yang dikenal mempunyai hubungan apapun dengan Bediuzzaman itu kemudian mencari dan penangkapan dimulai.

Tenekeci Mehmed memberitahu bagaimana seseorang dikirim kata kepadanya bahwa hal itu terjadi, dan dia membawa semua bagian Risale-i Nur dia di rumahnya bersama dengan buku-buku lainnya yang harus dilakukan dengan Islam atau agama mereka dan dikuburkan di taman. Pada saat itu tidak kurang dari delapan belas polisi datang dan mencari rumah. Meskipun mereka keseksamaan, mereka menemukan apa-apa, dan dia adalah satu dari sedikit tidak ditangkap. [2. Sözer, Mehmed, dalam Anak Sahitler, ii, 213-4.] Selain Isparta dan provinsi, tersangka yang ditangkap di Milas, Antalya, Bolvadin, Aydin, Van, dan tempat-tempat lain. Mereka telah denounced kepada otoritas sebagai 'kaum' (mürteji), dan dikenakan di bawah Pasal 163 dari KUHP, yang antara lain dari eksploitasi yang dilarang agama dan sentimen agama dengan cara apapun untuk merusak keamanan negara, dan pembentukan asosiasi politik atas dasar agama. Ada pertanyaan dan pernyataan yang diambil, dan ia saat ini dalam proses yang Binbasi asim Bey meninggal. Ia harus membuat pilihan antara berkata sesuatu yang dapat merusak Bediuzzaman, dan telling a lie, yang ia tidak akan kehormatan. Jadi dia uttered doa: "Tuhan! Mengambil saya semangat! ", Dan tentunya, Yang Mahakuasa telah mengambil roh-Nya, dan dia mencapai peringkat Bediuzzaman dari apa yang disebut" integritas yang syahid ".

Sementara itu, kemarahan yang dimulai di negara tekan mengejuntukan dengan cerita tentang "jaringan kaum yang telah terbongkar. Dan seolah-olah untuk mengatasi beberapa kerusuhan besar yang terancam dengan dasar-dasar negara, Menteri Dalam Negeri, Shükrü Kaya, the Commander-in-Chief of the Gendarmerie, Kazim Orbay, dan Kepala Polisi perjalanan bersama untuk Isparta di kepala a detasemen dari gendarmes. Isparta dan sekitarnya telah menempatkan negara di bawah kontrol militer unit, dan kavaleri ini diposting di sepanjang jalan dari semua jalan ke Isparta Afyon. Rumours yang tersebar di seluruh wilayah yang Bediuzzaman dan pelajar yang akan dijalankan, dan umum suasana teror dibuat. Pada saat yang sama, untuk mencegah semua pemberontakan di bagian timur Turki yang Bediuzzaman dari yang dimasukkan ke dalam penjara mungkin memprovokasi, Inönü, kepala pemerintahan yang zalim, berangkat pada tur di Provinsi Timur. [3. Tarihçe, 192.]

Pada sekitar 12 Mei, dan tiga puluh Bediuzzaman-salah seorang siswa di borgol pasangan seolah-olah mereka penjahat yang berbahaya, dan digabungkan dalam lorries pada titik di bayonets. Unknown kepada mereka, mereka akan dibawa ke penjara di Eskishehir, beberapa ratus tiga puluh tiga kilometer ke arah utara. Ribuan warga setempat yang dikumpulkan ketika mereka akan berangkat, tangis keluarga yang ditangkap, semua orang menangis melihat Bediuzzaman yang diambil dari mereka di negara ini yg menyedihkan. [4. Çöllüoglu, Halil Ibrahim, dalam Anak Sahitler, iv, 121.] Salah satu gendarmes dikirim dari Ankara untuk mengantar mereka terkait hal ini dan perjalanan, pertama memberitahu bagaimana mereka telah dipasang dengan peralatan baru dan bagaimana Bediuzzaman telah dijelaskan kepada mereka dalam dgn dibesar-besarkan yang paling tak baik istilah, Shükrü Kaya, maka Menteri Dalam Negeri, dia menelepon dalam mode bersifat merugikan orang lain, "the Kurdish Hoja". [5. Karaman, Ismail, di Sahitler Anak, ii, 86-7.] Bahkan pesanan adalah untuk offload Bediuzzaman dan mahasiswa di beberapa tempat terpencil di jalan dan untuk menembak mereka. Namun, petugas di charge, Ruhi Bey, yang bersimpati dan tidak melakukan pesanan. Selain itu, ia memerintahkan mereka untuk menjadi gari unfastened pada waktu yang tepat, sehingga mereka dapat melaksanakan salat. Salah satu siswa mencatat bahwa ia telah diusir dari tentara sebagai konsekuensi. [6. Gülirmak, Mehmed, dalam Anak Sahitler, i, 84.] Mereka melakukan perjalanan sejauh Afyon di lorries, di mana mereka telah tidak diperkenankan untuk berbicara atau untuk membuka jendela untuk udara, dan masih borgol di pasang dan di bawah dari bayonets gendarmes, telah dipindahkan ke sebuah kereta api. Berikut pagi mereka tiba di Eskishehir. [7. Çöllüoglu, Halil Ibrahim, Anak Sahitler, iv, 121-3.]


Eskishehir Prison

Kondisi dalam penjara yang menggemparkan. Bediuzzaman telah dimasukkan ke dalam kurungan tersendiri, yang lain bersama-sama dalam satu daerah pemilihan. Mereka tumbuh dari nomor dua sampai tiga puluh satu ratus dua puluh sebagai mereka bergabung lebih Siswa ditangkap di tempat lain. Setelah mereka masuk penjara mereka tidak diizinkan untuk mengunjungi lavatories. Setelah beberapa hari warders datang dan sebuah lubang digali di dekat pintu dan pipa yang terpasang. Inilah yang harus mereka gunakan, mereka tidak boleh keluar. Dengan kotoran, bug-tempat tidur, dan cockroaches, ianya mustahil untuk tidur di malam hari. Untuk dua belas hari mereka dipelihara tanpa makanan. Kenyataan itu mereka dianggap dikutuk tahanan mati untuk gantungan. [8. Gülirmak, Mehmed, dalam Anak Sahitler, i, 85; Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 315.] Meskipun kondisi, Bediuzzaman lanjutan untuk menulis, menyelesaikan lima lebih treatises di bulan dia di sini. Ini adalah Twenty-kedelapan, Twenty-Ninth, dan ketigapuluh Flashes, dan yang Pertama dan Kedua rays. Dia menulis mereka sangat jauh dengan siswa dalam pikiran, sehingga menderita lalim ini pertama penjara. Dia bernama penjara Sekolah Yusuf (Medrese-i Yusufiye), setelah Nabi Yusuf, yang pelindung dari tahanan.

Di antara mereka yang ditangkap itu hanya beberapa yang sangat sedikit yang terkait dengan Bediuzzaman. Ia lain contoh bagaimana Pemerintah telah berkembang atas kasus dari semua proporsi. Ini adalah anggota dari "jaringan kaum" yang mengancam negara! J Bolvadin dari pengusaha yang disebut Shükrü Shahinler sendiri terkait kasus dan dua lain:

"Saya telah berkenalan dengan Halil Ibrahim Çöllüoglu dalam kaitannya dengan beberapa usaha. Dia kemudian saya menulis surat dan meminta balasan. Balasan saya telah dikirim cukup untuk mengirim saya ke Eskishehir Prison dan saya termasuk di antara para siswa dari Risale-i Nur. Juga di jalan yang saya dapat melihat Bediuzzaman di Eskishehir dan kunjungan dia.

"Ada yang disebut kacamata di Aydin Shevket Gözaçan. Karena dia dirawat di salah satu mata Bediuzzaman dari siswa, Bediuzzaman wrote dia singkat catatan dia mengucapkan terima kasih kepada tiga atau empat baris panjang. Mereka dikirim ke Shevket Bey Eskishehir Prison karena ini.

"Dan lagi, salah satu siswa Bediuzzaman bernama Ahmad Feyzi Kul telah Bediuzzaman tertulis dalam surat itu Barla dan 'The Müftü dari Aydin' [oleh cara a joke, Aydin berarti 'mendapat penerangan-penerangan', serta menjadi tempat-nama] . Bila urusan erupted, mereka yang benar-benar dikirim dari Müftü ke Aydin Eskishehir walaupun dia tidak terhubung dengan cara apa pun sama sekali. Müftü Mustafa Efendi tinggal di penjara selama berbulan-bulan bersama-sama dengan saya. Eskishehir adalah suatu tempat di mana crazy mix-up seperti ini semua datang bersama-sama. "[9. Sahinler, Shükrü, dalam Anak Sahitler, i, 88.]

Mungkin yang paling gila adalah hal Bediuzzaman mendalam dari pada hikmat yang puasa pada bulan Ramadan. Bila mencari rumah dari Bediuzzaman dan siswa untuk salinan dari Risale-i Nur, polisi telah datang di risalah ini, yang disebut di Turki, Ramazan'a Ait, yang bisa berarti baik milik puasa, atau Mengenai puasa. Selain suci bulan puasa, di Turki juga seorang nama. Oleh karena itu, polisi mulai mencari desa untuk Isparta seseorang dengan nama tersebut. Selama operasi ia belajar bahwa tetangga yang mencari rumah di beberapa desa terpencil disebut puasa. Jadi, mereka datang dan clapped gari yang mengalami musibah di kampung yang tidak tahu cara membaca dan menulis, dan dia dikirim ke Eskishehir Prison, meski ia limbung protestations of innocence. Dan ia tetap di sana selama dua tahun sampai otoritas mereka mengakui kesalahan dan dia dibebaskan. [10. Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 318-19.]


"The Prison Jadi Like a Masjid"

Penjara berwenang tidak lalai menanam sebuah spion di bangsal tempat Bediuzzaman dari siswa. 'Pos Kamil' sebagai dia telah melakukan yang disebut militer sebagai polisi di Eskishehir ketika dia ditugaskan ke pekerjaan. Bediuzzaman dikirim kepada siswa catatan satu hari terjebak ke bagian bawah teko peringatan mereka untuk tidak berbicara terhadap Pemerintah sebagai pelapor ada di antara mereka. Dalam acara tersebut, 'pos Kamil' sangat terkesan oleh Bediuzzaman dan individu ini sepenuhnya bersalah, dia sendiri yang mulai melakukan salat dan wajib dalam laporan menulis bahwa mereka bersalah. Ketika hari-hari ini untuk menjelaskan Necmeddin Sahiner tahun 1985, ia berkata kepadanya:

"... Sedangkan yang melayani di penjara, saya terkejut oleh beberapa mendadak berita:" Beberapa tahanan yang dikutuk datang, dan mereka hojas !'... Beberapa hari kemudian Hoja Efendi [Bediuzzaman] tiba, dan setelah dia, yang lain hojas, maka siswa ... "

Setelah Kamil telah diminta untuk bertindak sebagai pelapor pada pendatang baru, ia bergabung di dalam mereka, pura-pura melayani kalimat untuk beberapa kejahatan. Dia terus:

"Setiap orang bisa baik pada satu sama lain di Prison Eskishehir ... Mereka digunakan untuk melakukan semua resep doa bersama, bacalah Al Qur'an, dan menawarkan doa-doa.

"Mereka yang juveniles dikosongkan 'untuk menangkal Bediuzzaman dan menempatkan dia di dalamnya. His siswa lain. The juveniles' perwalian adalah besar dan tinggal di Bediuzzaman semuanya sendirian. Mereka [yang berwenang] selalu berbicara menjelekkan Bediuzzaman kepada kami, sehingga unavoidably saya telah dipengaruhi oleh apa yang mereka katakan. Kemudian satu hari saya pergi dan mencium tangan-Nya. Ia adalah seorang manusia suci tua, rapuh, dan rambut yang cukup panjang. His beard telah berkembang sedikit, karena tidak pernah mencukur rambut. Saya yang tulus, dia embraced me. Saya sangat menyentuh dan mulai menangis. Dia mulai kirim saya tentang kehidupan ... Ia berkata: "Saya hanya ingin Risale-i Nur. Saya tidak akan menyerah ini karya saya. 'Saya sangat pindah dan terpengaruh dengan rapi kata-kata, dan maaf pada ketidakadilan dilakukan untuk orang besar seperti itu. Saya bertanya-tanya ke diri sendiri: "Mengapa mereka mengganggu ini begitu banyak orang tua?" Tanpa diketahui ia memberitahu kepada siapapun saya terus mengunjungi dia. Satu kali Hoja Efendi drew dua jari di atas dahi saya, dan saya berkata: "Bertobatlah dan meminta ampunan; menyediakan makanan untuk enam puluh orang dan membayar uang darah." Ini adalah luar biasa. Aku tidak mengatakan saya telah membunuh seseorang, tetapi dengan sangat baik kekuasaan, ia tahu apa yang akan dilakukan. He was a great saint ...

"Saya tinggal di Hoja dari siswa perwalian, sehingga tentu saja saya masih di dekat dengan mereka. Ia tidak mungkin untuk berpikir tentang hal lain di tempat yang sempit. Mereka akan berbicara baik yang diselenggarakan di sana, doa yang dilakukan, dan Al Qur'an Al Qur'an ...

"Itu penjara gelap mengipaskan shone dengan lampu dari Alquran. Semua orang akan bangkit awal untuk sembahyang, dan mengambil bagian mereka [yang ketigapuluh bagian] dari Alquran, maka Tilawah dari seluruh Alquran akan dimulai. Setelah doa pagi, doa untuk menyelesaikan hafalan Al Qur'an yang akan menjawab. Dari waktu ke waktu salah satu hojas suara dengan cara yang baik [Mehmed Gülirmak] yang akan bernyanyi 'kaside'. Ia digunakan untuk mengirim kami-ria. Lalu mereka mulai reciting Alquran lagi. Seluruh Alquran adalah Al Qur'an beberapa kali setiap hari. Mereka yang bersalah oleh orang-orang yang disimpan dari pembacaan Al Qur'an dan doa-doa. Orang-orang yang baik hari ..... Penjara menjadi seperti sebuah masjid. Jika saja aku telah dapat seperti mereka. Ada hal lain saya disaksikan di Prison Eskishehir yang tinggal di pikiran saya lima puluh tahun ini, saya selalu berdoa untuk Hoja Efendi dari jiwa. Saya harus banyak makan, namun dia telah melakukannya dengan beberapa teh dan zaitun setiap harinya. Karunia Allah telah bersama-sama dengan dia; hanya bagaimana besar dia, saya tidak tahu ..."[ 11. 'Postaci Kamil', dalam Anak Sahitler, iv, 147-50.]


Eskishehir Pengadilan

Hal ini terlihat dari overreaction negeri Menteri, Shükrü Kaya, dan Pemerintah, kemarahan dimulai pada pers, dan menempatkan sekitar Rumours baik di Isparta dan Eskishehir, bahwa niat ini adalah untuk menghilangkan dengan Bediuzzaman. Sepertinya bila diingat bahwa banyaknya orang, dan terutama orang-orang yang mempunyai agama, merosot mangsa ke secularizing 'reformasi', yang dituduh kurang 'kejahatan'. Beberapa tuntutan, dan melibatkan pelanggaran dari prinsip agama dan pasal 163 KUHP yang melalui, antara lain, memanfaatkan agama untuk politik berakhir "dengan ide politik reaksi" dan mengelola kelompok yang mungkin dapat merusak keamanan publik. Pengadilan di bawah tekanan dari Menteri Interior untuk menghukum Bediuzzaman. Ia jadi soal hidup dan mati untuk dia, dan siswa, tetapi ia sendiri tidak mengatur tentang untuk mempertahankan di Pengadilan, maka pertahanan pidato yang sebagian besar pembelaan dari Risale-i Nur. Masterpieces mereka yang biasa menggempur dengan mudah reasoning Pemerintah beralasan kecurigaan tentang dia dan palsu atas biaya dari Pengadilan. Fakta bahwa karena ia percipience dan tinjauan ke masa depan, Bediuzzaman telah berhasil counteracting yang depradations ke dalam Islam iman orang-orang Turki. Dan lebih dari ini, dengan tulisan-tulisan, dia telah mulai positif gerakan pembaruan rupanya tanpa melanggar undang-undang baru. Dan ia dapat membuktikan ini ke Pengadilan.

Dengan demikian meskipun tekanan kepada beruang di atasnya, Pengadilan dia dibersihkan dari semua tuntutan, menyimpan satu, yang bersangkutan singkat risalah expounding beberapa ayat Qur'anic Islam tentang pakaian. J hangat subjek, ia membuat alasan ini, dan sewenang-wenang hukuman Bediuzzaman ke sebelas bulan penjara, dan lima belas orang siswa untuk enam bulan. [12. Sualar, 312.] Sisa satu dan dua ratus orang acquitted; tiga sudah dirilis. Bediuzzaman objected ini, karena jika mereka telah ditemukan bersalah dari kejahatan yang telah mereka terdakwa, hal tersebut telah mengakibatkan sendiri eksekusi dan setidaknya penjara dengan kerja keras untuk siswa. Dia digambarkan sebagai "kalimat untuk kuda pencuri", dan menuntut mereka menunjukkan bahwa sesuai dengan undang-undang menyatakan bersalah necessitated baik kepada pelaksanaan atau seratus dan satu tahun penjara, atau memberi dia dan teman-temannya dan tulisan-tulisan mereka lengkap dan kebebasan mereka pulih dari kerugian yang disebabkan mereka. [13. Tarihçe, 229.]

Cukup selain dari palsu atas biaya dan kalimat acak, Bediuzzaman juga menolak hak-hak dasar yang paling ketika datang untuk menyiapkan pembelaan, dia sendiri yang menulis dan dikirimkan. Meskipun telah diambil Pengadilan tiga sampai empat bulan untuk mempersiapkan hal itu, ia boleh hanya beberapa hari di mana beliau menyiapkan seluruh pertahanan, dan untuk beberapa bagian yang hanya beberapa jam. [14. Lem'alar (Ott. edn.), 541 dan 603.] Begitu juga, ketika ia ditemukan oleh tangan menulis jadi sulit, dia menolak penulis. Dan dia tidak diperkenankan untuk berbicara dengan orang lain selama dua bulan. [15. Lem'alar (Ott. edn.), 563; Tarihçe, 205.] Namun, tidak Bediuzzaman diintimidasi oleh injustices ini, ia telah siap untuk melakukan segala yang dapat sehingga Risale-i Nur akan dihapus dan keadilan upheld. Sebab Ia mengakui hukum dan proses hukum, dan telah benar-benar bertentangan dengan segala kegiatan yang usurped itu, kerusakan keamanan umum, dan hak-hak infringed mayoritas. Dengan demikian, di samping menjawab tuntutan sesuai dengan hukum yang ada, Bediuzzaman kepada Pengadilan bahwa salinan itu pertahanan yang dikirim kepada Menteri dan Interior Pemerintahan Badan dari Majelis Nasional. [16. Lem'alar (Ott. edn.), 542.] Dan ketika, meskipun cukup jelas membuktikan bahwa Pasal 163 itu tidak berlaku bagi dia dan kegiatan, dia menemukan satu biaya bersalah oleh Pengadilan, ia diterapkan untuk kasus yang akan dikirim ke Pengadilan Banding. [17. Lem'alar (Ott. edn.), 615.] Dan pada saat di Pengadilan Banding menegakkan keputusan Pengadilan telah siap untuk mengirimkan surat permohonan ke tingkat pemerintah, Kabinet. [18. Lem'alar (Ott. edn.), 624-32; Tarihçe, 229-32.]


Bediuzzaman's Pertahanan

Satu per satu Bediuzzaman jawab tagihan yang dibuat terhadap dia, mendukung semua balasan dengan bukti. Dia mengatakan kepada Pengadilan yang terbaik karena itu harus menghabiskan tanpa wiles, dia telah diambil kebenaran dan kejujuran sebagai dasar dari-Nya pertahanan. Dengan demikian, ia mengakui secara terbuka kepada kepercayaan dan layanan kepada Al Qur'an, yang menjadi tidak peduli dengan politik itu tidak bertentangan dengan hukum, dan terkena Pengadilan di petak yang telah diletakkan terhadap dia karena layanan ini. Melibatkan sistem hukum di konspirasi ini, dan berusaha untuk mencapai tujuannya atas nama hukum, merupakan kesalahan kuburan dan membawa hukum dan sistem hukum ke dalam kehinaan. Dia cukup berani dengan tujuan nyata dari Pengadilan, maka pelaksanaan. Dia setelah semua Bediuzzaman yang dihadapi Pengadilan Bela mengatur setelah 31 Maret Incident di 1909, dan ia memenangkan pembebasan. Dia juga pandai dan khatib denda deklamator yang dialamatkan ribuan Aya Sophia di tahun yang sama, dan ribuan di Masjid Umayyad di Damaskus di 1911. Dengan demikian, Bediuzzaman pertahanan itu dimulai dengan keahlian yang bergerak berpaling pada tabel yang menilai dia. Dia jawab utama dari biaya "membuat alat dari agama dengan gagasan politik reaksi, dengan tujuan melakukan suatu perusahaan yang dapat merusak keamanan publik":

"Allah melarang seratus ribu kali bahwa ilmu kepercayaan yang kita harus sibuk alat untuk apapun selain Divine pleasure! For sure, seperti matahari tidak dapat satelit dari bulan dan mengikutinya, demikian pula kepercayaan pada Tuhan, yang merupakan terang dan suci kunci kebahagiaan kekal dan Minggu dari kehidupan selanjutnya, tidak bisa menjadi alat sosial kehidupan. Tidak ada masalah dalam alam semesta lebih penting daripada misteri kepercayaan, yang paling besar dan pertanyaan besar riddle dari penciptaan dunia ini, sehingga kepercayaan dapat dibuat alat of it.

"Hakim-hakim dari Pengadilan! Jika ini berliku-liku penjara saya khawatir hanya diriku sendiri dan hidup di dunia ini, anda dapat yakin bahwa saya akan tetap diam seperti saya ini sepuluh tahun terakhir. Tapi karena kekhawatiran yang kekal kehidupan banyak, dan Risale-i Nur, yang menyatakan dan menjelaskan yang kuat tangkal penciptaan, jika saya mempunyai seratus kepala dan setiap hari adalah satu terpotong, saya tidak akan menyerah ini kuat misteri. Dan bahkan jika saya disampaikan dari tangan Anda, saya tidak bisa diselamatkan dari kuku-kuku yang ditunjuk jam. Aku tua dan di pintu kubur. Dan sebagainya, ini hanya mempertimbangkan misteri tentang kepercayaan yang ditunjuk dan jam kubur, yang akan datang ke setiap orang, salah satu dari ratusan hal-hal yang Risale-i Nur menyatakan ...

"Apakah yang paling berat semua pertanyaan politik dunia dangau yang lebih besar dari kematian untuk seseorang yang sudah pasti mati, sehingga ia bisa alat-orang pertanyaan. Untuk sementara waktu dari kedatangan tidak ditentukan. Yang ditunjuk jam, yang dapat datang setiap saat untuk memotong kepala, dapat dilakukan secara kekal pemadaman atau menghabiskan kertas untuk pergi ke dunia yang lebih baik. Yang pernah buka-kuburan adalah salah satu pintu ke satu sumur non-makhluk abadi dan kegelapan, atau pintu gerbang menuju dunia yang lebih permanen dan penuh dengan cahaya dari dunia ini.

"... Oleh karena itu, Respected Sirs, apakah di semua adil, adalah sama sekali layak untuk mempertimbangkan Risale-i Nur, dan yang uncovers menjelaskan ratusan pertanyaan kepercayaan seperti ini, untuk menjadi bias memanfaatkan buku politik arus berbahaya seperti tulisan-tulisan ? Apa hukum memerlukan ini? ... Selain itu, sejak sekuler Republik tetap adil sesuai dengan prinsip agama dan tidak terganggu dengan orang-orang tanpa agama, tentu saja hal itu juga seharusnya tidak terganggu dengan orang-orang di agama apapun alasan. "[19. Tarihçe, 194-5.]

Jadi, yang didirikan Bediuzzaman itu adalah menimbulkan kepercayaan dan Risale-i Nur bahwa ia akan mempertahankan, dan kemudian pergi ke membantah tentang tuntutan itu memanfaatkan agama untuk politik berakhir. Pertanyaan yang penting dari reaksi politik dan agama akan dibahas nanti.

Setelah pointing out bahwa ia telah menolak Mustafa Kemal dari menawarkan untuk bekerja bersama dengan rezim baru pada tahun 1923 karena dia sudah diambil dari dunia dan politik, Bediuzzaman dijelaskan ke Pengadilan lima 'pointer' menunjukkan bahwa ia tidak "interfered di negara 's bisnis ".

Pertama, untuk tiga belas tahun Bediuzzaman belum begitu banyak seperti membuka koran, surat kabar yang "lidah politik", yang ia tahu semua orang bisa untuk bersaksi. Kemudian, untuk sepuluh tahun beliau telah di provinsi Isparta tidak ada sedikit pun petunjuk yang ia menyarankan untuk dilakukan upaya apapun "untuk terlibat dalam politik", walaupun upheavals besar yang terjadi selama waktu itu. Rumahnya telah raided dan mencari dengan teliti, dan segala pribadi kertas dan buku-buku yang diambil. Dan meskipun ini telah belajar baik oleh polisi dan Kantor Gubernur, tidak ada apa pun politik konten telah ditemukan. Hanya, dalam semua pekerjaan, mereka telah menemukan beberapa poin yang mereka mampu meningkatkan keberatan tentang. Ini sebagian besar eksposisi ilmiah pada sejumlah ayat Qur'anic untuk perempuan dengan pakaian dan warisan. Namun, ia mengatakan kepada Pengadilan, potong pendek ini telah ditulis sebelum tahun ketika dia menjadi anggota dari Darü'l-Hikmeti'l-Islamiye, dan dia telah mampu mereka ketika undang-undang yang baru disahkan, yang mereka dapat dilihat sebagai menentang. Hanya satu salinan telah dikirimkan ke seseorang tanpa sengaja. Selain itu, kenyataan bahwa ia telah memilih untuk tetap untuk sembilan tahun di sebuah desa terpencil membuktikan Bediuzzaman dari keinginan untuk tetap dihapus dari semua terlibat dalam masalah-masalah sosial dan politik. Bahkan katanya, ia itu tidak berlaku untuk Isparta berwenang untuk dilepaskan atau dipindahkan ke tempat lain yang mempunyai "luka mereka kebanggaan", sehingga mereka telah menyebabkan urusan untuk meletus oleh alarming Ankara. Dia mengatakan kepada Pengadilan:

"Semua teman-teman saya yang berhubungan dengan saya tahu bahwa itu tidak terlibat dalam politik atau mencoba sesuatu politik, bahkan berpikir tentang hal ini adalah bertentangan dengan tujuan dasar saya, saya mental negara, dan tugas-tugas suci terhadap kepercayaan. Cahaya (nur) telah memberikan saya; klub politik belum memberikan saya ..."[ 20. Tarihçe, 194-6.]

Demikian pula ada bukti yang benar-benar tidak mendukung biaya yang mengganggu keamanan umum oleh agama seru emosi. Sebaliknya, sebagai Bediuzzaman mengingatkan, yang Risale-i Nur upheld keamanan:

"The Risale-i Nur, yang terdiri dari ilmu kepercayaan, mendirikan dan menjamin keamanan umum dan perdamaian. Ya, kepercayaan, sumber baik karakteristik dan kualitas baik, tentunya tidak mengganggu ketertiban umum; memastikan itu. Ia adalah kekafiran yang disturbs itu, karena karakter yang buruk. "[21. Tarihçe, 198.]

Juga, tidak salah satu dari Bediuzzaman siswa, atau siapapun yang membaca Risale-i Nur telah terlibat dalam salah satu gangguan yang telah diberi warna dan agama telah terjadi sejak 'reformasi' telah diundangkan pertama. Dalam lain bagian dari Nya pertahanan, Bediuzzaman berkata: "Orang-orang yang menerima instruksi dari Risale-i Nur tentu tidak ikut terlibat dalam setiap gangguan publik, yang merupakan penyebab darah innocents being spilt dan hak-hak mereka yang melanggar ... "[22. Tarihçe, 207.] Selain itu, Bediuzzaman mengingatkan bahwa jika Pasal 163 itu berlaku bagi mereka, ia juga berlaku kepada Direktorat Urusan Agama dan semua imams dan preachers siapa mereka bekerja, karena didorong perasaan agama dengan cara yang sama. [ 23. Tarihçe, 218.]

Selanjutnya biaya, dan yang telah Bediuzzaman harus diisi dengan sering, adalah dengan meminta di Sufism, untuk itu sebagai disebutkan sebelumnya, Sufism telah dilarang pada tahun 1925, dan pesanan dibubarkan dan mereka tekkes ditutup. Hal ini cukup beralasan biaya lain; sebagai semua Risale-i Nur menunjukkan, Bediuzzaman yang bersangkutan dengan kebenaran kepercayaan. Dia mengatakan kepada Pengadilan:

"Seperti yang saya tulis dalam berbagai treatises, ini bukan waktu Sufism; ada waktu untuk menyimpan kepercayaan. Ada banyak yang masuk surga tanpa milik seorang Sufi pesanan, namun tidak ada yang masuk tanpa kepercayaan. Oleh karena itu, waktu untuk bekerja kepercayaan. "Tidak ada satu yang bisa maju dan berkata dia telah mengajar mereka Sufism. Apa dia telah diajarkan kepada sejumlah siswa yang khusus adalah "tidak pelatihan Sufism (tarikat), tetapi dalam instruksi langsung jalan ke kenyataan (hakikat)." [24. Tarihçe, 199.] Berkaitan dengan ini, Pengadilan ingin tahu apa yang hidup di Bediuzzaman. Tetapi ia telah ekstrim keekonomisan dikenal dan mudah didapatkan, serta kehidupan-kebiasaan lama yang tidak menerima hadiah atau amal dalam bentuk apapun.

Lain biaya yang utama, yang juga jelas palsu atas, adalah Bediuzzaman telah menyiapkan sebuah organisasi untuk kepentingan politik. Dia persistently pertanggungjawaban oleh Pengadilan tentang ini, dan di mana dia telah diamankan dana untuk itu. Bediuzzaman balasan dari itu dalam empat bagian. Dia mulai:

"Pertama. Dan saya meminta orang-orang yang bertanya, apa dokumen, apa yang bisa kami menyarankan keberadaan sebuah organisasi politik seperti itu? Apa bukti, apa yang telah mereka menemukan bukti bahwa kami telah menetapkan suatu organisasi dengan uang yang mereka meminta agar persistently? Untuk sepuluh tahun terakhir saya telah di provinsi Isparta di bawah pengawasan ketat. Saya gunakan untuk melihat hanya satu atau dua asisten dan sepuluh hari dalam satu atau dua tamu. Saya sendiri, yang asing, lelah di dunia, merasa sangat menjijikkan dengan politik, dan telah berulang kali menyaksikan bagaimana kuat gerakan politik telah merusak dan tidak ada yang datang kepada mereka melalui reaksi. Saya menolak dan tidak ikut ambil bagian dalam gerakan politik ketika saya sendiri di antara ribuan orang dan teman-teman di kesempatan yang paling penting, dan melarikan diri dari politik seolah-olah lari dari Devil mempertimbangkan untuk kejahatan yang paling merusak untuk layanan melalui sikap politik ke true kepercayaan , yang paling suci dan yang tidak dibolehkan untuk menyakiti oleh sesuatu ... Hal ini bukan hanya saya, tapi Provinsi Isparta dan semua orang yang saya tahu, dan siapapun yang memang memiliki alasan dan hati nurani, akan bertemu dengan kemuakan yang slanders orang-orang yang berkata, ada suatu organisasi dan Anda penggarisan politik plots, dan akan berkata kepada mereka, Anda accusing karena dia sendiri rencana jahat ...." Bediuzzaman lanjutan:

"Kami adalah bisnis kepercayaan. Persaudaraan melalui kepercayaan, kami adalah saudara-saudara dengan sembilan puluh sembilan persen dari Isparta dan rakyat di negara ini. Sedangkan masyarakat atau organisasi adalah aliansi yang minoritas di dalam mayoritas. Sembilan puluh sembilan orang tidak membentuk masyarakat di muka satu orang ... "Dan ia menyimpulkan answering ini biaya yang tidak realistis bagaimana ia bertanya-tanya ke mana seseorang yang telah dikelola untuk hidup seratus lira dalam sepuluh tahun dan telah dikenakan jubah patch yang sama selama tujuh tahun telah mendapat uang bagi organisasi dia seharusnya telah dibentuk. [25. Tarihçe, 201-2.]

Utama pada titik yang persidangan beristirahat Namun, vexed adalah pertanyaan tentang agama, di jalan yang semua perubahan radikal sejak berdirinya Republik telah dibawa. Apa meletakkan di dasar tuduhan terhadap Bediuzzaman adalah bahawa dia telah menentang pemerintah dan program secularization. Sedangkan untuk bagian, Bediuzzaman menyangkal bahwa ia telah bertentangan itu, argumentasi bahwa "republik sekuler berarti pemisahan agama dari [hal yang] dunia ini", [26. Tarihçe, 205.] Dan bahwa "sejak, sesuai dengan prinsip [dari agama] republik sekuler tetap netral dan tidak terganggu dengan orang-orang tanpa agama, demikian pula tentunya juga tidak boleh mengganggu mereka dengan dalih agama pada apa." [27. Tarihçe, 195.] Itu adalah untuk mengatakan, agama harus memastikan kebebasan hati nurani, dan ekspresi, dan kebebasan lainnya. Ini konflik interpretasi atas makna agama dan bagaimana ia harus tetap diterapkan hingga hari ini belum diselesaikan. Dengan demikian, Bediuzzaman berpendapat bahwa Risale-i Nur adalah pekerjaan ilmiah - dan karena itu seharusnya tidak dibatasi di bawah republik sekuler - yang silenced materialisme dan naturalisme dan filosof dari Eropa dan serangan mereka pada Alquran, selama lebih dari tiga puluh tahun nya perhatian telah diarahkan untuk menyerang mereka. Masalah internal negeri, ia melihat mereka sebagai akibat dari pengaruh kerusakan. [28. Tarihçe, 198-9.] The Risale-i Nur berurusan "kuat blows" pada mereka dan pada atheists melalui mereka yang minat dan plots di negara [29. Tarihçe, 221.] Di bawah penutup secularization. Ia ini "intriguers" dan "mereka tak komite" Bediuzzaman yang bertentangan, bukan Pemerintah. Bediuzzaman dibedakan antara Pemerintah dan komite ini rahasia masyarakat atau bekerja di jalan irreligion, dan peringatan tentang mereka infiltrating Pemerintah dan deceiving it. Ia mereka yang menaikkan outcries dari "reaksi politik" dan "memanfaatkan agama untuk politik berakhir." [30. Tarihçe, 214.]

Tuduhan ini di levelled orang yang tidak mendukung agama baru, tentu saja. Telah banyak digunakan yang terbuat dari mereka setelah Konstitusi dari Revolusi 1909, saat perdebatan antara orang-orang yang cantik dan secularization total pembaratan dan orang-orang yang tidak sering paling sengit, seperti yang dijelaskan dalam bab sebelumnya. Pada saat itu, Bediuzzaman kepada pengadilan militer menetapkan setelah 31 Maret Incident: "Beberapa orang yang membuat alat politik dari irreligion menuduh lain reaksi politik dan memanfaatkan agama untuk kepentingan politik untuk menyembunyikan misdeeds mereka sendiri." [ 31. Amben Harb-i-i Örfî, 12.] Dan pada Republik, maka slogan yang digunakan untuk berakhir sama: untuk memburuk-burukkan nama Islam dan mengurangi mereka berdiri di mata masyarakat, dan sebagainya oleh orang-orang yang menakutkan jauh dari Islam, untuk membuka jalan untuk menyebarkan ide-ide yang tak beriman. The Menemen Incident adalah contoh klasik, dan bagian dari biaya terhadap Bediuzzaman adalah bahwa ia telah berusaha "untuk meniru" yang memberontak. It had been a minor incident which occurred in response to provocation, and amid great storms in the press had been suppressed brutally as a “reactionary movement”. Thirty-three people had been executed in the wake of it, and in numerous places repressive measures taken against people known to work for the cause of religion. Reprisals had also been taken against Bediuzzaman, although he had absolutely no connection with it.[32. Mektûbat, 60.] Bediuzzaman explained to the Court how forces representing the same interests had attempted to provoke a similar incident in Isparta, and having failed were now trying to deceive the judiciary. Saying also that the matter had to be seen in the light of the perpetual struggle between belief and unbelief, religion and irreligion, and that “everyone who is aware of the heart of this matter knows that these attacks on us are an assault on religion directly on behalf of irreligion.”[33. Tarihçe, 214-5.]

Thus, Bediuzzaman demanded a fair trial from the Court. He told it: “Among the branches of government, the one charged more than any other with preserving its independence, and, remaining free of outside influences, with considering matters impartially and without emotion is certainly the court.” Nevertheless, irregularities had taken place. For example, while his name was Said Nursi, in his questioning Bediuzzaman was always referred to as “Said-i Kurdi” and “the Kurd” in a way which would inevitably produce biased opinions. [34. Tarihçe, 203.] Indeed, the intention was to link Bediuzzaman with the constant opposition to the Government and rebellions in eastern Turkey, as is shown clearly from the slanderous campaigns orchestrated against him in the press at the same time. So also, despite his correcting them in all his statements, the dates his works were written were deliberately confused with the dates they were copied out and pieces written over a period of twenty years were shown as having been written in one year.[35. Tarihçe, 227.]

It was due to his “scholarly defence” of a few Qur'anic verses concerning women’s dress and inheritance, written before the foundation of the Republic and adoption of the new Civil Code, “against the objections and attacks of European philosophers”,[36. Tarihçe, 222.] part of which had been included in the Risale-i Nur as the Twenty-Fourth Flash, that the Court finally convicted Bediuzzaman and sentenced him in entirely arbitrary fashion to eleven months imprisonment, and as mentioned, fifteen of his students to six months. Sentence was passed on 19 August, 1935.[37. Sahiner, N. Said Nursi, 308.]

An extraordinary event occurred while Bediuzzaman was being held in the prison, occasions similar to which were also recorded while he was in Denizli Prison. One day, the Eskishehir Public Prosecutor saw Bediuzzaman in the market. Being very surprised he went immediately to the Prison Governor and asked him why he had allowed Bediuzzaman out of the prison. The Governor assured him Bediuzzaman was being held in solitary confinement inside the prison. They went and looked, and sure enough Bediuzzaman was in his cell. The event became well-known, though the authorities had to admit they were at a loss to understand it.[38. Tarihçe, 192-3.]