have discovered such an incident. But such widespread propaganda would have brought it to light within twenty days. That is to say, contrary to the principle of freedom of conscience, Article 163 of this ambiguous law, which embraces all who give religious counsel, is a bogus mask. Atheists deceive certain members of the government, confuse the legal establishment, and want to crush us whatever happens.

Since the reality of the matter is this, we declare with all our strength: O wretches who sell religion for the world and have fallen into absolute unbelief! Do whatever you can! Your world will be the end of you! Let our heads be sacrificed for a truth for which hundreds of millions of heads have been sacrificed! We are ready for any penalty and for our execution! In this situation, being outside prison is a hundred times worse than being inside it. Since there is no freedom at all — neither religious freedom, nor freedom of conscience, nor scholarly freedom — under the absolute despotism that confronts us, for those with honour, the people of religion, and supporters of freedom there is no solution apart from death or entering prison. We say, We belong to God and our return is to Him, and we trust in God.

Prisoner Said Nursi [^242]

[^242]:Ibid., 236-7; Tarihçe, 356.

In His Name, be He glorified!

Sirs!

The Ankara committee of experts has confirmed our decisive reply to the charge of organizing a political society insistently put forward by you as a pretext for our conviction, which you have decided upon [as may be deduced from] the course followed by the prosecution. While feeling amazed and astonished at your insisting on this point to this degree, the following occurred to me: friendship, fraternal communities, gathering together, sincere associations pertaining the hereafter and brotherhood are all foundation stones of social life, an essential need of human nature, and the ties binding together all life from family life to the life of tribe, nation, Islam, and humanity, and points of support and means of consolation in the face of the assaults of the material and immaterial things which cause harm and alarm and which each person encounters in the universe and cannot combat on his own, and prevent him carrying out his human and Islamic duties. Now some people hang the name of "political society", although it has no political front, to the gathering together of the Students of the Risale-i Nur around the teachings of belief, which is most praiseworthy and is a sincere friendship centred on the teachings of belief and the Qur'an; and is a certain means to happiness in this world, in religion, and in the hereafter, and is a companionship on the way of truth; and co-operation and