1943 Tahiri Mutlu, from the village of Atabey near Isparta, had The Supreme Sign published in Istanbul. Although it was only during Bediuzzaman's Kastamonu years that he had come to know the Risale-i Nur, Tahiri Mutlu was to be one of its most important students. It was also through his enterprise that handwritten copies of the Hizb al-Qur'an and Hizb al-Nuri were printed photographically at this time. Also in 1943, the Fifth Ray about Hadiths alluding to the signs of the end of the world and resurrection and the fearsome individuals or antichrists who were to appear at the end of time, began to be sought after. The final draft of this treatise had been made in 1938 from a first draft made while Bediuzzaman was a member of the Darü'l-Hikmet from pieces some of which were taken from Muhâkemat, published in 1909. This Fifth Ray was to be the main cause of his, and a number of his students' arrest in August of 1943 and their second sojourn in prison.

#### Increased Harassment and Arrest

Increased Harassment and Arrest

Both Bediuzzaman and his students in Kastamonu, and the Risale-i Nur Students in the region of Isparta and other places were under constant pressure from the authorities. This increased as time passed, culminating in widespread arrests and the Denizli trials and imprisonment in 1943-4. On several occasions previous to this copies of the Risale-i Nur were seized after searches, students arrested and then subsequently acquitted and the copies of the Risale-i Nur returned. It was the Fifth Ray in particular that was being searched for. In 1940, thirty to forty were arrested then released. Towards the end of 1941, there was another incident in Isparta involving a Risale-i Nur student called Mehmet Zühtü Efendi, and this was followed by a third incident. [^211] The closeness of the surveillance under which Bediuzzaman was held, and the pressure on him, also increased. These incidents are reflected in Bediuzzaman's letters together with repeated warnings to his students to observe the utmost caution and discretion and to guard against the plans and plots that were being hatched against them. These have been mentioned in part above; their principle aim was to break the solidarity of the Risale-i Nur Students by sowing conflict among them, and to distract, tempt, or scare them away from their service to the Risale-i Nur. It was a serious, planned attempt to stop the spread of the Risale-i Nur.

[^211]:Nursi, Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybî, 171.

These series of arrests occurred in Isparta and Bediuzzaman was not