maintain unity. If religion was not taken as the basis, the non-Turkish Muslims of the region "would not feel true brotherhood for the Turks", and the need for co-operation and solidarity at that time was great. Of two hundred deputies addressed on this question, 163 endorsed the decision to set aside 150,000 liras for the project. [^380]

[^380]:Tarihçe, 128.

One reason Bediuzzaman gave for declining the offers was the change that had come about in himself. As he wrote: "Their conduct and the way they were going did not accord with my own feelings of old age." And he quoted himself as telling them: "The New Said wants to work for the next world and cannot work with you, but he will not interfere with you either." [^381] However, the main reason was that Bediuzzaman had perceived the course that would be taken and understood that he could not work alongside the new leaders. In a later work he wrote:

[^381]:Ibid., 195.

So I was compelled to leave those most important posts. And saying that nothing can be gained from working with or responding to those people, I abandoned the world and politics and social life, and spent all of my time on the way of saving belief. [^382]

[^382]:Nursi, Şualar, 300-1 (Eng. tr.: Rays, 381-2).

Indeed, Bediuzzaman had understood that it would be followers of the Qur'an that would combat them, and that they would be defeated not in the realm of politics but with the "immaterial sword" of the Qur'an's miraculousness. Thus, he refused to work together with the new leaders and left Ankara for Van, where he retired into a life of solitude. [^383]

[^383]:Tarihçe, 131.

When leaving, Bediuzzaman was escorted to the station by a number of deputies and friends. Mustafa Kemal Pasha also, who at the time was living by the station, joined the group. It is recorded that they had a conversation about statues, and that on the Pasha asking Bediuzzaman his opinion on them, he replied sharply: "The Qur'an's attacks are all at statues and idols. The statues of Muslims are monuments like hospitals, schools, orphanages, mosques, and roads." [^384] The date on Bediuzzaman's ticket the ticket which took the Old Said to the New Said — shows that it was issued on 17/4/39; that is, 17 April 1923, which was the first day of Ramadan 1341.

[^384]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 250; Av. Hulusi Bitlisi Aktürk, "Defence Speech in Afyon Court," in Nursi, Müdâfaalar, 447.