Biography of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi ( THE NEW SAID )

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CHAPTER ONE


• Van

On arriving in Van, Bediuzzaman stayed with his younger brother, Abdülmecid, a teacher of Arabic, in the Toprakkale district of the town. But we learn from Abdülmecid's wife, Rabia, that his well-wishers and visitors were so numerous that he was obliged to move to Nursin Mosque. This then became Bediuzzaman's base in Van in place of his medrese, the Horhor, which had been razed in the general destruction of the city wrought by the Armenians and occupying Russians during the War. Nursin Mosque became a centre of learning, with large numbers of religious scholars and Seyhs coming to visit Bediuzzaman to pay him their respects and seek his advice. Bediuzzaman again attracted many students and began to teach them, in addition to speaking with his many visitors. This busy life however weighed on Bediuzzaman and impinged on his inner life. So as soon as the weather became sufficiently warm, taking a small number of his students with him, he withdrew from Van to Mount Erek, a mountain among jagged peaks to the east of the town. Here he was able to devote himself entirely to prayer and contemplation.
That he was the New Said was clear to everyone in Van. Most of those who have recorded their memories of him at this time have mentioned some aspect of the changes that had come about in him. The most apparent of these was that he had abandoned the colorful local dress of the area for clothes of a more sober nature. Indeed,
on first seeing his destroyed medrese and the sacked and burnt city of Van, he was to relive the harrowing events of war and the deaths of so many of his students that had been instrumental in bringing about the New Said. Then too they saw that he had altogether turned his back on politics and the world, and those who heard him speak learnt of the way of the New Said, that of saving belief, which would form the basis of renewal and reconstruction.
For the next two years Bediuzzaman stayed on the mountain, inhabiting a cave near the source of the river Zernabad and returning to Van only for the coldest months of the winter. It was also his practice to go down to the town on Fridays, to give the sermon in Nursin Mosque. From what has been recorded of these sermons and what he taught his students, they too were entirely in accordance with the way of the New Said. That is to say, Bediuzzaman concentrated on explaining and teaching the fundamentals of belief, the basic tenets of faith. Such subjects as Divine Unity and the resurrection of the dead and the hereafter. He told one of his students on this being questioned, for his treatment of these subjects was new and different in addition to his congregations being unaccustomed to hearing these basic matters:
“My aim is to construct firmly the foundations of belief. If the foundations are sound, they cannot be destroyed by any upheavals.”
The same student, Molla Hamid, has also quoted Bediuzzaman as saying in relation to this:
"Honoured sirs, the Old Said is dead; you still think of me as the Old Said. This is the New Said you see before you. Almighty God has granted limitless blessings to the New Said... Ten months of the New Said's teaching may be the equivalent of what the Old Said taught in ten years, and sufficient."
The New Said was to find total manifestation in the Risale-i Nur and the three years till the spring of 1926 when he was inspired to write the first parts may be seen as a time of preparation and waiting for Divine Guidance, but it may also be noted that just as, as was

described in a previous chapter, the first writings of the New Said, the Mesnevi-i Nuriye, were "seed-bed" of the Risale-i Nur, so too at this time in Van, some of the `ders's Bediuzzaman gave or subjects he taught were later included in the Risale-i Nur. Another student, Ismail Perihanoğlu, has recorded two instances of this, which we include here:
"...Another day, Molla Resul, Kopanisli Molla Yusuf and I went together with Ustad to Zeve, the people of which had been entirely wiped out in the Armenian massacres. Ustad paused standing, and said:
" `This is the resting-place of martyrs. My brother Molla Ahmed-i Cano lies here also.' And unable to hold back his tears, he wept with great sorrow.
"Molla Ahmed-i Cano had studied with Ustad.
"Later Ustad taught us concerning the levels of life as described in the First Letter. And we afterwards wrote out this `ders' and duplicated it."
On another occasion they climbed to the top of the citadel in Van, and as was Bediuzzaman's practice, he climbed to the very highest point and spread out his prayer-rug there. Looking down on the ruins of his medrese at the foot of the citadel, he spoke of the signs of the end of the world. Then shifting his gaze to Lake Van, he explained the story of Jonah and the whale. He made a comparison of Jonah's situation and that of modem man , and explained how his moral and spiritual state resembles that of Jonah in the belly of the whale. Bediuzzaman later incorporated this into the Risale-i Nur as the First Flash.
Bediuzzaman's absorption in worship has also been commented on by many of those connected with him at this time. His sister-in-law, Rabia, notes that h

supplication. Ismail Perihanoglu notes how Bediuzzaman preferred to perform his worship, an important element of which was contemplation [tefekkür , in high places and elevated spots. Besides describing him climbing to the highest point in the citadel of Van, mentioned above, he tells of another occasion when he found Bediuzzaman on the roof of the mosque plunged in thought.While Molla Hamid who spent the most time with him on Mount Erek, states that Bediuzzaman was never for a moment idle, but always occupied, mostly in prayer and supplication. He spent hours on his knees, so that his toes became raw. When one of his students suggested he sat in a more comfortable position like themselves, he replied:
"We have to win eternal life in this brief life and fleeting world. Both sit comfortably and claim Paradise - that's not possible! I'm not so bold as to sit comfortably!"
Bediuzzaman and his students transformed a ruined monastery on the mountain into a mosque, and in a thicket of trees by the source of the Zernabad, they built a small platform on the interwoven branches for Bediuzzaman, which he found conducive to study, prayer, and contemplation. These tree-houses became a mark of the New Said and after he had been exiled to western Anatolia, he had a number made in spots favourable for `reading the book of the universe'.
Molla Hamid also relates many anecdotes illustrating Bediuzzaman's great kindness towards animals and his respect for them as creatures, and his affinity with them and power over them. The following is an example showing this last, that is, illustrating Bediuzzaman's keramet, or spiritual powers.
A number of people arrived one day on the mountain to visit Bediuzzaman, and when it became apparent they were to stay overnight, Molla Hamid was sent down to a neighboring village to get some quilts. He was frightened of meeting wolves, dogs, or other wild animals, of which there were many, and cut himself a stout

stick. But Bediuzzaman would not allow this. "The dogs won't harm you", he told him.
Molla Hamid set off and on approaching the village, he encountered a flock of sheep or goats guarded by dogs. He saw that a great brute of a dog lay across the path, blocking it. Remembering Bediuzzaman's words, he approached the animal; it rose to its feet and moved off making way for him. On reaching the village, the villagers expressed their astonishment, saying that they could not approach the herd even as a group armed with clubs, for the dogs were fed on sheep's milk to make them sufficiently ferocious to ward off the wolves. Whereupon Molla Hamid told them he had been sent by Bediuzzaman. "Ah," they said. "We can accept it then!"
Molla Hamid took the quilts and retraced his steps. He was met by Bediuzzaman when he arrived, who asked him if he had been attacked by dogs on the way. On hearing that he had not, he told him:
"Have courage! Don't be scared!"
It had been a lesson in courage for Molla Hamid.
Molla Hamid also related this `lesson' which Bediuzzaman gave him. In answer to an unasked question about looking at what is forbidden, Bediuzzaman struck himself angrily on the knee, and said:
"I am not satisfied with the Old Said, I'm only happy at three things about him." Then he added: "At a glittering time in Istanbul, I used to change my dress once a week, splendid clothes. I used to go to the most brilliant places in Istanbul. Then my hoca friends appointed one of themselves as observer and got him to follow me, to see where I went and what I did. Three days later while talking with these friends they said to me: `Said, whatever you do is right. Where you are going is right, and you will be successful in it.' When I asked them why they said this, they told me: `We have had you followed for three days to see if you did anything contrary to Islam, and we saw that you are not concerned with anything apart from your own business. Therefore you will achieve your aims.' Just as a small flame thrown into a forest will by degrees destroy the whole forest, a believer who lowers himself to look at what is forbidden will day by day eat up his actions and destroy them. I am frightened of such a person's end being grievous..." Then he added:
"The Old Said stayed in Istanbul for ten years during his youth, and he did not look at a woman once."
 

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The Seyh Said Revolt

Although it was known by everyone that Bediuzzaman had given up all political concerns and gone into retreat, the tribal leaders and those with power .till wished to benefit from his enormous influence in the eastern provinces. Thus among his visitors were chiefs and tribal leaders, besides those who came to him purely as a man of religion. For the problems of the area had found no solution. Among the Kurds were many who favoured independence or autonomy, especially since the abolition of the Sultanate and Caliphate and the establishment of what many of them saw as the godless Republic. It provided too a fertile ground for the British to pursue their ambitions in the area. By early 1925 unrest was widespread, and the tribal chiefs tried to gain Bediuzzaman's support for a full-scale uprising against the Government. As before, Bediuzzaman did all he could to persuade them against such a move. A number complied with his wishes. Thus many thousands of lives were saved when what was to be known as the Seyh Said Revolt finally broke out on 13 February, 1925, so called as it was lead by a Naksibendi seyh called Seyh Said of Palu. He too had tried to gain Bediuzzaman's support in a letter Bediuzzaman's reply to which is still extant and is given below. The Revolt, which was only put down after two months or so, was to have far-reaching results, for Bediuzzaman, who was sent into exile entirely unjustly as a consequence along with many hundreds of others, for the area, and not least for the future of the country as a whole. It set the course for the new regime. For the Government in Ankara used the revolt as a pretext for rushing through the Law for the Maintenance of Order, passed 4 March 1925, which empowered them to set up the notorious `Independence Tribunals' and gave them dictatorial powers to pursue their policies without opposition.'

Among the tribal leaders who visited Bediuzzaman was Kör Hüseyin Pasa, it would seem on several occasions. One time he was accompanied by Abdülbaki, the son of the Mufti of Van, Seyh Masum, a close friend of Bediuzzaman's. This visit Abdülbaki describes in some detail, telling of the extremely ascetic conditions under which Bediuzzaman lived on Mount Erek. He also records that during the visit Bediuzzaman foretold the great difficulties they would undergo in the future, but that they should not be unduly dismayed for Allah would send someone to protect and revive His religion of Islam. Interestingly, there is another record of his foretelling the difficulties of the future. On this occasion he told his students to "seek refuge with Almighty God....dire things are going to happen..." When they asked for an explanation of this, he merely told them that he was not permitted to say anything further at present.
During the same visit, Kör Hüseyin Pasa tried to give Bediuzzaman money, something he never accepted under any circumstances. Molla Hamid describes a similar occasion, noting Bediuzzaman's anger at the offer and his refusal. Their exchange continued with Hüseyin Pasa saying:
"I want to consult you. My soldiers, horses, weapons and ammunition are all ready. We only await your command."
"What do you mean? Whom do you want to fight?"
"Mustafa Kemal"
"And who are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers?"
"I don't know... soldiers."
So Bediuzzaman told him: "Those soldiers are the sons of this land. They are my kith and kin and your kith and kin. Whom will you kill? And whom will they kill? Think! Use your head! Are you going to make Ahmed kill Mehmed, and Hasan kill Hüseyin?"
Kör Hüseyin Pasa also approached Bediuzzaman on the question on a further occasion, this time in Nursin Mosque after the

Friday Prayers and in the company of several other tribal leaders and notables. Ali Çavus describes how together with the Deputy for Çaldiran, Hasan Bey, and three others he again tried to obtain Bediuzzaman's support. The Governor of Van was alarned by the visit of these chiefs and on the pretext of a burial service also attended the prayers at the mosque. But his alarm turned out to be needless, for on them admitting to their intention of joining the revolt, Bediuzzaman told them:
"Where has the idea of serving this cause come from, I wonder? I ask you. Is it the Seriat you want? But such an action is absolutely opposed to the Seriat. There is very great likelihood of its being the tool to the foreigners' provocations. The Seriat can't be contravened by making it a tool and saying: `We want the Seriat.' The Seriat can't be demanded like that. The key to the Seriat is with me. Now, all of you return to your own homes and places!.."
When he had finished speaking, Bediuzzaman rose to his feet and returned to Mount Erek. As for Kör Hüseyin Pasa and the tribal leaders, they heeded his warnings and did not join the revolt, which meant too that Van and its people were not forced to join it and thousands of lives were thus saved. Many others testify to this fact.
As was mentioned above, Seyh Said wrote in person to Bediuzzaman requesting him to join the movement, for if he did so the would be "victorious". Bediuzzaman replied as follows:
"The Turkish nation has acted as the standard-bearer of Islam for centuries. It has produced many saints and given many martyrs. The sword may not be drawn against the sons of such a nation. We are Muslims , we are their brothers, we may not make brother fight brother. It is not permissible according to the Seriat. The sword is to be drawn against external enemies, it may not be used internally. Our only salvation at this time is to offer illumination and guidance through the truths of the Qur'an and belief; it is to get rid of our greatest enemy, ignorance. Give up this attempt of yours, for it will be fruitless. Thousands of innocent men and women may perish on account of a few bandits.”
 

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The Journey to Exile

Towards the end of the revolt, the authorities started to round up all the influential religious and tribal leaders in the province of Van, although they had not taken part in the revolt, and send them into exile in western Anatolia. Rumours began to circulate that Bediuzzaman also was going to be exiled. There were moves to persuade him to leave the area for Iran or Arabia. But Bediuzzaman declined the offers, saying that should he go to Anatolia, it would be of his own consent. First Seyh Masum, the Mufti of Van, was arrested, then a squad of three gendarmes and a captain were seen climbing the lower slopes of Mount Erek; they were going towards the source of the Zernabad and Bediuzzaman's cave.
Bediuzzaman was uninformed of this squad and its orders, and on being surprised in his retreat and curtly ordered by the captain to accompany them in a most peremptory and overbearing fashion, he responded with the boldness that had always marked his response to arbitrary and tyrannical behaviour. A tense and electric situation was suddenly created. In the meanwhile Bediuzzaman's students and a number of people from the nearest villages had gathered. They awaited his orders to act; it would have been simple for them to get him away from the area and out of the country. However, Bediuzzaman prevented them attempting action of any sort and permitted the gendarmes to take him to Van.
Those arrested and awaiting exile were held in a secondary school in Van. Besides Bediuzzaman and Seyh Masum were Kör Hüseyin Pasa, the Mufti of Gevas, Hasan Efendi, Küfecizade Seyh Abdülbaki Efendi, and Abdullah Efendi, the son of Seyh Hami Pasa, in addition to hundreds of others including the elderly, women, and children. It was the month of Ramazan when they started their long trek, just as it had been in Ramazan that Bediuzzaman had returned to Van almost exactly two years previously. That year, 1925, it began on 25 March. It was still bitterly cold and the whole land covered in snow. They set off from Van, some seventy to eighty sledges drawn by oxen or horses, with many also on foot or on horseback. The whole caravan stretched for about a kilometre. To start with Bediuzzaman was handcuffed to Seyh Masum. According to Haydar Süphandagli, Kör Hüseyin Pasa’s son, unlike all the others being exiled, who were leaving their homes and native land amid tears and in trepidation like a retreating army, Bediuzzaman was entirely calm and resigned at the turn of events. He also stated that the caravan stopped for three to four days in Patnos, one night in Agri, and a week in Erzurum, from where they continued in horsedrawn carts. At Trabzon, where they stayed some twenty days, they boarded a ship for the week-long journey to Istanbul. Here Bediuzzaman stayed some twenty to twenty-five days before traveling on with other exiles to Izmir and Antalya in the same boat. From there he was sent on to Burdur in south-western Anatolia, his destination.
Kinyas Kartal, who as a young man of twenty-five or so was sent into exile in the same group, related that when they were leaving Van, villagers, the rich, many people from the surrounding area collected together a considerable sum of money and gold in order to give to Bediuzzaman. But he would not even look at it. He would accept presents, charity, or money from no one. Among his own memories of Bediuzzaman on the journey he tells also how `Seyda' did not sleep at night in their first stopping-place, spending it in prayer. After this he requested a room to himself, so as not to disturb the others. That Bediuzzaman received special treatment on the journey is attested to by the gendarme assigned to guard him, Mustafa Agrali. He gives a detailed description of Bediuzzaman, the caravan, and some of the villages in which they stayed. He said:
"... Despite the other sledges all being loaded up with people and belongings, there was nothing on Bediuzzaman's at all. He was all alone. He was being given special treatment. Wound round his head was a long, twisted turban of white printed muslin material. He had thick black moustaches, and no beard..

Mustafa Agrali described also the hospitality they received from the Kurdish villagers in the places where they stopped for the night. He notes however that in the first place Bediuzzaman refused all offers of food pleading illness. And after spending the night in prayer and performing together with him the morning prayers, he got out a kettle from the small basket which contained his belongings, then proceeded to boil himself an egg on the stove. It was the first food he had eaten since leaving Van.
Of the details given about Bediuzzaman by Münir Bakan when the caravan stayed two or three days in his village of Koruçuk near Erzurum is the fact that there were officers assigned to write down whatever he said. As he told Necmeddin Sahiner, "Of course, they weren't writing down these notes out of `sincerity', but for `capital'." One of the things Bediuzzaman said to Münir Bakan was:
"Don't be afraid, my brother, these disasters that are being visited on us are temporary. Only there is one point you should take careful note of and be afraid of: make your children study, otherwise this religion will be lost to you in no time at all.”
By the time the exiles boarded the ship for Istanbul in Trabzon, it was spring and approaching summer in the warmer western climate. Two independent witnesses have told of how Bediuzzaman insisted on remaining on deck in the ship, defying the captain when he tried to force him to go below to join the other exiles.
In Istanbul, Bediuzzaman stayed in the `Barley Sellers' Mosque in Sirkeci, in the Hidayet Mosque, and with his student Tevfik Demiroglu. His fears about Mustafa Kemal's true intentions had been justified, for the attempts to uproot Islam and expunge Turrkey’s Islamic past and identity had already begun, and he saw here some of the results. He described one of these as follows:
"When I was brought to Istanbul on my way to exile, I asked what had happened to the Seyhü’l-Islam’s Office, for I was connected with it having worked and served the Qur'an in the Darü’l-Hikmeti’I-Islamiye, which was attached to it. Alas! I

received such an answer that my spirit, heart, and mind trembled and wept. The man I asked said: `That Office, which for hundreds of years shone with the lights of the Seriat, is now an older girls' lycee and playground.' I was seized by such a mental state that it was as though the world had collapsed on my head. I had no power, no strength. Uttering sighs of anguish in sheer despair, I turned towards the Divine Court. And the feverish sighs of many others whose hearts were burning like mine combined with my sighs. I cannot remember whether or not I sought the assistance of Seyh-i Geylani's prayers and saintly power for our supplications; I do not know. But in any event it was his prayers and influence that set fire to the sighs of those like me in order to save from darkness a place which for so long had been a place of light. For that night the Seyhü’l-Islam’s Office was in part burnt down. Everyone said, what a pity. But I, and those who were burning like me, said, All praise and thanks be to God!"
According to Tahsin Tandogan, who was a Chief Superintendent of Police in Istanbul in 1925, Bediuzzaman also stayed in Süleymaniye near the old Seyhü’l-Islam’s Office. His recollections of Bediuzzaman have been recorded by Necmeddin Sahiner and provide both added proof of Bediuzzaman's innocence and further interesting details of his stay in Istanbul. Tahsin Bey himself arrested those ring-leaders of the Seyh Said Revolt who were in Istanbul and took their statements. Namely, Palulu Sadi, Seyyid Abdülkadir, his son Mehmed Bey, and Nazif Bey. He was also ordered by his Chief, Ziya Bey, to go to Süleymaniye to the Seyhü’l-Islam’s Office, in order to fetch Bediuzzaman to the Police Headquarters and take his statement. The Police Chief told Chief Superintendent Tahsin Bey: "It is the famous Said-i Kürdi, but he is not in touch with these here involved in the Revolt. We could not establish any connection between them at all." Tahsin Bey continued in his conversation with Necmeddin Sahiner:
"They had recently brought him [Bediuzzaman] from the East. He was staying in Süleymaniye. He had one of his students with him called Bitlisli Kürt Hakki, who attended to his needs. I myself went to Süleymaniye to get him and bring him to the Special Branch. I had his file. It was me who took the file to the Police Chief and to the Governor [of Istanbul] to have it signed. I myself took his statements. Said Nursi said:
" `I have no connection with this revolt whatsoever. I would have nothing to do with a negative movement such as that and know nothing of it. I would not have my brothers' blood on my hands. Movements such as that are the cause of the ;blood of brothers being spilt."'
Tahsin Bey went on to describe how he took the other four to Diyarbakir to the Independence Tribunal, where three were condemned to death and executed, and one, Nazif Bey, was acquitted. He then went on to say that the esquires continued for fifteen days, after which they let Bediuzzaman go. Both Seyyid Abdülkadir and Palulu Sadi testified that Said Nursi had no connection with them at all. Tahsin Bey described his impressions of Bediuzzaman like this:
"Bediuzzaman was an extremely intelligent person. I have never seen such an intelligent person. Thousands of guilty people have passed though my hands, and I understand what they are from their faces. What eyes he had! Like a motor, sparking, turning. I have never in my life seen such eyes. They sent him to Isparta as a precautionary measure, he was ordered to reside there. I am of the opinion that he was not the sort of man to be involved in simple revolts such as that; he was a most intelligent person."
After some three weeks, the greater part of which thus passed in `helping the police with their enquiries', Bediuzzaman again boarded the ship, which set sail for Antalya having called at Izmir to disembark a number of the other exiles. A considerable crowd of friends and well-wishers gathered on the Galata Bridge to make known their sorrow at his leaving them and bid him farewell. From Antalya he was taken inland to the small town of Burdur.
 

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Burdur

Thus unjustly began twenty-five years of exile for Bediuzzaman. And the injustice was to continue. For rather than merely `compulsory residence', he was to be held under the most oppressive conditions, constantly under supervision and subject to arbitrary and unlawful treatment by government officials. He arrived in Burdur in the mulberry season, that is, June, and stayed in the Haci Abdullah Mosque in the Degirmenler district of the town. We learn from another neighbour that he used to hold `ders', or teach, every day in the mosque after the afternoon prayers, and that this attracted many people. It is probable that as material for these `derses' he used what was later entitled `The First Door of the Risale-i Nur' (Nur'un IIk Kapisi). This was a collection of thirteen short sections, called `derses', which he wrote while in Burdur and had put together secretly into book form. This was then duplicated by hand by people who felt the need for the basic truths of belief that it teaches. Bediuzzaman described it as "an index, list, and seed of the Risale-i Nur" and as "the Qur'an's first lesson to the New Said."
Of those who came to visit Bediuzzaman in Burdur was A. Hamdi Kasaboglu, a member of the Consultative Council of the Department of Religious Affairs. He related the following to Necmeddin Sahiner:
"One day, I went to visit Bediuzzaman in Burdur. I took a page of Arabic with me wondering if he knew Arabic. During the visit, I said to him, ‘ Would you read this for me please ?’ , and I handed it to him. He took it, cast an eye over it, and handed it back to me. And saying, `Now let's see if I can remember it', he read by heart the whole page..."
Field Marshal Fevzi Çakmak, the Head of General Staff, came to Burdur while Bediuzzaman was there. He knew Bediuzzaman of old, and when the Governor complained to him about Bediuzzaman, saying that he, and a number of his students, declined to report to the Police Station every evening as was required of them, and that he was giving religious instruction to those who came to him, Fevzi Pasa told him: "No harm will come from Bediuzzaman. Treat him with respect and don't bother him."
 
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