time that some of the pieces that were later to be made into the collection published under the name of A Guide for Women were written. [^199] These most probably formed the basis of his guidance to these visitors.

[^199]:For example, Nursi, Kastamonu Lahikası, 85.

Bediuzzaman was also concerned with the youth, as those most susceptible to the materialist ideologies being propagated with such fury. In 1940 or '41, some high school boys started to visit Bediuzzaman, one of which was Abdullah Yeğin, who from that time on was a devoted student of him and the Risale-i Nur, and in future years was one of his most active students. Some of the replies to the questions they asked became the basis of various parts of the Risale-i Nur, and it was for them that Bediuzzaman compiled the pieces finally published under the name of A Guide for Youth. It was also because of them that Bediuzzaman first gave permission for the Risale-i Nur to be written in the Latin alphabet, thus becoming immediately accessible to the younger generation. Some of the young schoolboy's impressions are as follows:

I was in the second class of the middle section of Kastamonu High School, in 1940-1. On hearing Ustad's landlord and some others who visited us speak praisingly of him, it awoke in me the desire to go and see him. What I heard about him was that he was an important person, did not accept presents, and did not receive everyone.

One day during the break in school I broached the subject with my bench-mate, Rıfat. When I told him there was a famous hoca here worth seeing, he replied: "Yes, I know, his house is opposite ours. He's a very good person, let's go together. I sometimes visit him."

We went together at a convenient time. We knocked at the door and it was opened. We went upstairs, and entered his room by the door on the right. First Rıfat and then I kissed his hand and we sat down. He was seated on a high platform like a bed, with a quilt drawn up over his knees and leaning against the back. He was holding a book. His hair came down to his ears. Looking at us over his fine spectacles, he said to us: "Welcome!" He asked my friend about me, and he introduced me as his school friend. He asked my name and was very kind. He spoke to us about Islam, the beauty of belief in God, death, and the hereafter. We sat for a while then we left.

One day when I went to visit him, I saw Ustad to be very profound and humble. It was because of this humility that I wondered if he knew anything — because he always came down to our level and spoke of things that we knew. I even asked Mehmet Feyzi Efendi one day if he knew Arabic. Of course Feyzi Efendi just laughed.

Ustad's modesty and humility, and affection and interest in us bound us