The area outside the prison was like a festival, A string of phaetons came from the town to collect them. They were the guests of Denizli. The people took them into their houses in small groups and offered them the best of whatever they had. A merchant called Haji Mustafa Kocayaka, chosen by the people, had a large sum of money to distribute among Bediuzzaman's students, but none was accepted. And when they went to the station, he and many of the town's notables came to assist them and see them off onto their trains. Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur had conquered the town. [^260]

[^260]:See, Selahaddin Çelebi, in Son Şahitler, i, 146; and İbrahim Fakazlı, in Son Şahitler, i, 179.

On leaving the prison, Bediuzzaman moved to a room with fine views on the top floor of the Şehir Hotel in the town, where he was to remain for one and a half months. Within one or two days, all his students had dispersed, returning to their home towns and villages. As soon as he was settled, vast numbers of people came to visit him, five hundred or so daily to start with. Some of them continued their visits. Ankara was notified of their names. One was a teacher from Erzurum who later became a well-known writer and thinker called Nureddin Topçu, who had drawn the wrath of the Education Minister on himself with some writings and had been posted to Denizli by way of a punishment. Part of his interesting account of his visits to Bediuzzaman in the Şehir Hotel is as follows:

His name was to be heard everywhere in the town; everyone was talking about him... After the acquittal, he settled in a room on the top floor of the Şehir Hotel. He was under very close surveillance. All those who visited him were followed in the same way and their names were taken. They could only visit him for a very short time and had to leave immediately." Nureddin Topçu used to visit him during the time of the evening meal when there was no one about and he could stay half an hour or so. He also knew the two teachers who had been appointed to produce the first 'experts' report for Denizli Court. Evidently they were completely without religion and most undesirable characters. He was impressed by Bediuzzaman's forgiving them, and offering to call them to religion:

Bediuzzaman was a truly great person; he said that he forgave them. It was a great virtue to be able to forgive people who had worked against him in a way that could have have led to his execution.

He was a man of action, enterprising. He used to talk to everybody. He would explain his cause. He wasn't one for diffidence or hanging back...

They brought the evening meal; it was a lavish spread. He returned it to the waiter who brought it and told him to give it to the poor. He had some olives with him, and ate them and some bread. He said: "One loaf lasts me