Risale-i Nur was a courage and hope which countered the pervading air of defeat and despair engendered by the pressure, propaganda, and terror directed against Islam and those who practised it. This courage and hope were contagious and generated a positive movement which eventually spread through the whole country. All the Students were undaunted by the intimidation and official efforts to prevent them. They suffered every sort of persecution. They lived under the constant threat of having their houses raided and searched for copies of the Risale-i Nur. Many were taken time and again from their houses to police stations, where they suffered imprisonment, torture, the bastinado.

The women too played a vital and heroic role in this extraordinary movement. Some taking on their husband's work to leave them free to either write or serve the Risale-i Nur in some other way, others assisting their husbands in writing. Many wrote out copies by simply tracing the letters. Many others now learnt to read and write for the first time and wrote out copies of the treatises themselves. Others read the Risale-i Nur themselves and then read it to other women in the vicinity. Undaunted like their husbands at the intimidation, they found their strength from the firm belief they obtained through reading and listening to the "lessons" of the Risale-i Nur. The children too played an important part in writing out the treatises. [^79]

[^79]:Tarihçe 144-6.

It may be seen from this how the Risale-i Nur contributed to preserving the Qur'anic script in Turkey when the authorities were attempting to abolish it entirely. And more than this, in the face of the so-called language reforms which followed in the 1930's and aimed at removing all loanwords of Arabic and Persian origin it played a truly important role in maintaining and even reinvigorating traditional, Islamic, culture. It may even be said that the Risale-i Nur movement contributed significantly to increasing the literacy rate and raising the cultural level of thousands of people, quite apart from its duty of preserving and renewing the Islamic faith. In connection with this Bediuzzaman wrote: "Just as the Risale-i Nur works to protect the truths of belief against atheism, so also one of its duties is to preserve the letters and script of the Qur'an against innovations." [^80]

[^80]:Nursi, Kastamonu Lahikası, 48.

What was it about the Risale-i Nur that attracted these people to it, causing them to undertake so many risks and hardships and very often leave aside their own concerns so as to devote themselves to its service? What was the source of its power to strengthen their belief in this way? Or was it