cerning belief in God and the other truths of faith. For he believed that the root of man's problems in the present age lies in weakness of belief in these truths, and that the problems facing the Islamic world in particular would be solved only through renewal of belief. Thus he turned his back on politics and dedicated all his efforts to this end. With his profound knowledge of both the religious and modern sciences, the new way to the truth that he opened up with the Risale-i Nur was so successful in the renewing and strengthening of belief that it is accepted by many to be the Regenerator of Religion promised each century in the well-known Hadith. Now, thirty years after Bediuzzaman departed this life, the Risale-i Nur continues to find thousands of new students within Turkey, particularly among the young, and so too it continues to spread rapidly throughout the Islamic world, where it is acclaimed by the scholars of al-Azhar and else- where.

However much Bediuzzaman shunned acclaim and wanted all attention to be directed away from himself to the Risale-i Nur, he embodied the Islamic virtues of courage, enterprise, self-sacrifice, compassion, humility, and unbending resolve in the face of enemies to such a high degree, reflecting in his life the practices of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to a degree rarely achieved this age, that the present work describes him and his characteristic practices at every stage of his life. Since the intention is to portray a model Muslim, like a Companion of the Prophet (PBUH) in the modern age, and his unmatched struggle for the cause of Islam, it is hoped it will be forgiven. Whatever the deficiencies of the work, and they are bound to be many, they should be attributed to the author. Wa mā tawfīqī illā billāh.