heretics and innovators" who were the instigators of these moves in the name of Turkish nationalism, "the heads of the committees who, following the path of pharaoh, are playing in arbitrary and tyrannical fashion with the nation's destiny. [^86]

[^86]:Nursi, Mektûbat, 402 (Eng. tr.: Letters, 502).

Tevfik Tığlı, the teacher, said of Cemal Can that he made every effort to have Bediuzzaman moved from Barla. And he too took it on himself to pester and harass him. In fact, both sharing the pettiness and desire to domineer characteristic of minor officials, they mostly combined their efforts to that end. However, as very often happened with those whose intention was to harm Bediuzzaman, the Chief District Official received a blow from the Almighty: totally unexpectedly, he was arrested in connection with some quite different matter and was sent to prison for two and half years. [^87]

[^87]:Ibid., 314 (Eng. tr., 398); Son Şahitler, i, 212-3.

In regard to the changes to the call to prayer, Bediuzzaman supported his adamant opposition to Turkifying the practices of Islam with various reasoned arguments. Particularly in regard to the Qur'an, when the authorities announced it was to be translated in the early thirties, he wrote various letters and treatises arguing the impossibility of translating it, and pointing out the evil intentions of those who were urging it. For example, some people said that words of the Qur'an and those used by the Prophet (PBUH) in various prayers and supplications illuminate man's inner faculties and are spiritual sustenance for him. Just the words are not enough if their meaning is not known. The words are like clothes; if they are changed, would that not be more beneficial? To which Bediuzzaman replied:

The words of the Qur'an and those of the glorifications of the Prophet (PBUH) are not lifeless clothes; they are like the living skin of a body. Indeed, with the passage of time, they have become the skin. Clothes can be changed, but if skin is changed it is harmful to the body. Indeed, the blessed words like those in the prescribed prayers and in the call to prayer, for example, have become the signs and marks of their accepted meanings. And as for signs and names, they cannot be changed."

He then goes on to say that whenever they are repeated, each of man's subtle inner senses takes its share from these phrases, whereas if they are in a language other than the revealed Arabic of the Qur'an, man's spirit remains in darkness, and he becomes heedless of the Divine presence, So also Bediuzzaman provides arguments showing it to be contrary to the Shari'a to change these 'marks of Islam'. [^88]

[^88]:Nursi, Mektûbat, 316 (Eng. tr.: Letters, 400). See also, 370-1 (464).