sent to guide the Muslim community in accordance with Divine wisdom, the unprecedented difficulties and conditions of the present time demanded a collective personality to undertake such duties. [^191]

[^191]:Ibid, 6-7.

#### More Glimpses of Bediuzzaman's Life in Kastamonu

More Glimpses of Bediuzzaman's Life in Kastamonu

Despite the harassment Bediuzzaman received at the hands of officials and his being under constant surveillance, he was held in great respect by the majority of the inhabitants of the town, and a number used to visit him as far as they were permitted. We learn from one of his students, Tahsin Aydın, that among these was the Head of the Town Council. He also tells of an occasion when Bediuzzaman refused the offer of money for his students, even though sent by one of the heroes of the War of Independence. [^192] He never broke this fundamental rule of his life, that of never accepting money under any circumstance, even though his situation was so difficult at one point in Kastamonu that he was forced to sell his quilt to pay the rent. [^193]

[^192]:Tahsin Aydın, in Son Şahitler, iii, 104-5.

[^193]:Tarihçe, 284.

Bediuzzaman also concerned himself with others in difficulties. Also there were many drunkards and people who had fallen foul of the law that he saved. An example of the former was a family who had been deported from eastern Anatolia after one of the disturbances, one member of which was a thirteen-year-old boy who used to run errands for Bediuzzaman. Necmeddin Şahiner has recorded his account of those days. Since he was a child, he could come and go unquestioned, and relates how besides performing such vital jobs as sending Bediuzzaman's letters, he would also "prepare the ground" for people wanting to visit him by conducting them on roundabout routes to avoid being spotted from the police-station opposite his house. He also mentions that on Bediuzzaman's recommendation his family were able to move to a house which Bediuzzaman had originally been going to live in, but had not been able to since it was in a quiet and secluded spot. The house was still empty and they lived there for nine years without paying any rent. Bediuzzaman helped out this family in numerous ways. On one occasion an unjust complaint was lodged against them by a neighbour, a retired police superintendent called Süleyman. Being complete strangers in the town, they were understandably very perturbed. The boy, Nadir, ran to Bediuzzaman to explain, and he sorted out