approached Bediuzzaman seeking his support, but as on numerous occasions including the much larger Shaykh Said revolt in 1925, he declined, refusing to draw his sword against fellow Muslims. He told the shaykh:

"Those bad things and that irreligious behaviour are peculiar to commanders like them; the Army is not responsible for them. There are perhaps a hundred thousand saints in the Ottoman Army; I will not draw my sword against it. I will not join you." He continued: "Those people left me, drew their swords, and the futile Bitlis Incident occurred. A short time later the First World War broke out, and the army took part in it in the name of religion, it undertook the jihad. A hundred thousand martyrs from the army attained the rank of sainthood, and confirming what I had said, signed their diplomas of sainthood with their blood." [^242]

[^242]:Nursi, Şualar, 302 (Eng. tr.: The Rays Collection, Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2002, 383).

#### "Arms and Books Side by Side

"Arms and Books Side by Side"

As conditions deteriorated and hostilities became inevitable, Bediuzzaman bought "five or six Mauser rifles". Quoting one of two friends from Doğubayezit who attended the medrese, Necmeddin Şahiner describes how for military training, Bediuzzaman used to take his recruits up Mount Sübhan and set up eggs for target practice. He would give whoever hit an egg a mecidiye [a silver coin] as a reward. The students he was thus training became so proficient and bold that when they came to the mountain for training, the Armenian revolutionaries would make themselves scarce and go elsewhere. [^243]

[^243]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 156.

With his charismatic character and ability to inspire great love and devotion in his students and followers, which manifested itself particularly under those harsh and testing wartime conditions, Bediuzzaman was able to infuse them with something of his own absolute fearlessness and powers of endurance, and move them to acts of great bravery. The following is a contemporary account of Bediuzzaman and his medrese; but first, two short descriptions of his activities against the Armenians, the first by himself:

Since at that time years ago the Old Said's students' devotion to their Master was such that they would have sacrificed everything for him, [he] never rested in the face of the Armenian Taşnak revolutionary societies, and was able to silence them to a degree although they were very active. He found