Mauser rifles for his students, and for a time his medrese was like a barracks with arms and books side by side. [^244]

[^244]:Nursi, Şualar, 439-440 (Eng.tr.: Rays, 518).

In 1331 (1915), the Armenian and Russian savages were in no way successful in killing Bediuzzaman, although they used to attack him from every quarter and tried to do so. As for Bediuzzaman and his followers, they used to pursue the Armenians mercilessly, who used to flee as hard as they could. [^245]

[^245]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 158.

Now a description of a visit to Bediuzzaman's medrese-barracks given to Necmeddin Şahiner by Nureddin Burak, who related it exactly as told by his father, Zeyneddin Burak:

At that time in the East, studying in the medreses was like this: the hoja (teacher) taught for nothing; in fact, through the mediation of the hoja, the people provided the students' livelihood. So there was no material reason preventing study. The choice of teacher was made only through his standing in regard to learning. So if someone was known as a great scholar, he would have many students; everyone would want to be taught by him. At that time, I and a few friends gathered together and began to search for a good teacher. We were told of Said the Famous in Van, in a medrese called the Horhor.

Three of us went there. Hoja Efendi was not present when we arrived at the medrese. Someone called Molla Habib met us and invited us inside. He told us to wait saying the Hoja would come soon. At this point, the medrese's walls caught our attention. Hung up on them in rows were Mauser rifles and various weapons, swords, daggers, and cartridge-belts. There were also books on reading-stands. In truth, we were astonished.

In a short while they said: "Hoja Efendi is coming." We straightened ourselves up. He entered, and said: "Welcome!" then asked us why we had come.

The second thing that caught our attention and astonished us was the Hoja's manner and dress, because we did not see the customary dress of a teacher, which we knew and had expected. With a conical hat on his head, boots on his feet, dagger at his waist, and firm step, he reminded us of a soldier or high-ranking officer rather than a hoja. In fact, because of his youth, we thought to ourselves: "I wonder if he is learned." But then Molla Habib, the most advanced student, was studying books like Molla Cami. He was like the students' sergeant.

We said we had come to study under him. So he told us: "Fine, but I have conditions. You can on condition you comply with them." Then he added: