Chapter One - Van

CHAPTER ONE

Van

#### Van

Van

On arriving in Van, Bediuzzaman stayed with his younger brother, Abdülmecid, a teacher of Arabic, in the Toprakkale district of the town. But we learn from Abdülmecid's wife Rabia that his well-wishers and visitors were so numerous he was obliged to move to Nurşin Mosque. This then became Bediuzzaman's base in Van in place of his medrese, the Horhor, which had been razed in the general destruction of the city wrought by the Armenians and occupying Russians during the War. Nurşin Mosque became a centre of learning, with large numbers of religious scholars and shaykhs coming to visit Bediuzzaman to pay him their respects and seek his advice. He again attracted many students and began to teach them, in addition to speaking with his many visitors. This busy life however weighed on him and impinged on his inner life. So as soon as the weather became sufficiently warm, taking a small number of his students with him, he withdrew from Van to Mount Erek, a mountain among jagged peaks to the east of the town. Here he was able to devote himself entirely to prayer and contemplation.

That he was the New Said was clear to everyone in Van. Most of the recorded memories of him at this time mention some aspect of the changes that had come about in him. The most apparent was that he had abandoned the colourful local dress for clothes of a more sober nature. [^1] On first seeing his destroyed medrese and the sacked and burnt city of Van, he was to relive the harrowing events of war and the deaths of so many of his students that had been instrumental in bringing about the New Said. They also mention that he had altogether turned his back on politics and the world, and people who heard him speak learnt of the way of the New Said, that of saving belief, which would form the basis of renewal and reconstruction.

[^1]:Abdullah Ekinci, in Son Şahitler, i, 192.