The Six Steps was published shortly before the reoccupation of Istanbul by the British in March 1920, and as they came to realize Bediuzzaman's effectiveness in opposing them, the British authorities determined to get rid of him. However, they were told that if they attempted to assassinate him, the inhabitants and tribes of eastern Anatolia would never forgive the British, and it would earn them their eternal enmity. There are various sources which corroborate the fact that the British wanted to do away with this vehement enemy who so persistently and successfully foiled their attempts to annihilate Islam and the Turkish nation through their plots and propaganda. One such incident was related by Bediuzzaman's student, Molla Süleyman:

We set off in the direction of the Divanyolu, and Mısırlı Said Molla was there. He was the second president of The Friends of England Association. He had no religion, and whether he was a Mason or what he was, I do not know. This man used to inform on Bediuzzaman to the British; he used to tell them about his appearance, features, dress, and where he lived. This was because Bediuzzaman used to make dreadful attacks on them in the press. He used to publish articles in the Tanin and other newspapers which said things like: "You dogs, who are more basely and utterly dog-like than any dog!"

Then one day, soldiers of the occupying forces were waiting for Bediuzzaman in the square by Aya Sophia, they were going to seize him. I was terrified and he said to me: "You follow close behind me, Süleyman, and don't fall behind." Then he recited the verse from Sura Ya Sin: "And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and further, We have covered them; so that they cannot see" (Qur'an, 36:9), and they did not see us. We passed right by them and came to the house. I knocked on the door, and when it was slow in opening, I said to my friend inside: 'Come on open it quickly; Bediuzzaman is with me!' He opened it immediately and we went in. Bediuzzaman sat down on the divan, and I pulled off his boots. Then he asked me:

"What did you understand from all that?"

"I do not know", I replied. So he said:

"They had received the order to shoot me, and I did as I did in order to save you. I pitied you because you had no weapon. Otherwise I would have lined up ten of them and taken my aim. I would have killed at least ten of them before being killed myself." [^359]

[^359]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 218-219.

Another account of Bediuzzaman at this time has been given by Tevfik