condemned prisoners are coming, and they are hojas!' . Several days later Hoja Efendi [Bediuzzaman] arrived, and after him, the other hojas, his students…

After Kâmil had been instructed to act as informer on the new arrivals, he joined them inside, ostensibly serving the sentence for some crime. He continued:

Everyone got on well with each other in Eskişehir Prison... They used to perform the prescribed prayers all together, recite the Qur'an, and offer prayers.

They emptied the juveniles' ward for Bediuzzaman and put him in it. His students were somewhere else. The juveniles' ward was large and he stayed in it all alone. They [the authorities] were always speaking ill of him to us so that unavoidably I was influenced by what they said. Then one day I went and kissed his hand. He was a saintly old man, frail, and his hair quite long. His beard had grown a bit, since it had not been shaved. On my being cordial, he embraced me. I was very touched and started to weep. He began to tell me about his life... He said: "I only want the Risale-i Nur. I won't give up these works of mine." I was very moved and affected by his terse words, and was sorry at the injustice done to such a great person. I wondered to myself: "Why do they bother this elderly man so much?" Without letting it be known to anyone I kept on visiting him. One time Hoja Efendi drew two fingers over my forehead, and said to me: "Repent and seek forgiveness; provide food for sixty people and pay the blood-money." This was extraordinary. I hadn't said I had killed someone, but with his saintly powers, he knew what I'd done. He was a great saint…

I stayed in the Hoja's students' ward, so of course I was in close contact with them. It was not possible to think of anything else in those cramped quarters. They held good talks there, the prayers were performed, and the Qur' an recited...

That dark prison ward shone with the lights of the Qur'an. Everyone would rise early for the prayers, and take their sections [a thirtieth part] of the Qur'an then the recitations of the whole Qur'an would begin. After the morning-prayer, the prayer for a complete recitation of the Qur' an would be said. From time to time one of the hojas with a fine voice [Mehmed Gülırmak] would sing a qasida. He used to send us into raptures. Then they would start reciting the Qur'an again. The whole Qur'an was recited several times each day. Those innocent people were saved by the readings of the Qur'an and the prayers. Those were good days. The prison became like a mosque. If only I had been able to be like them. There's another thing I witnessed in Eskişehir Prison which has stayed in my mind these fifty years; I always pray for Hoja Efendi's soul. I had plenty to eat, but he made do with