1948, Bediuzzaman had written letters to members of the government of the time explaining the nature and seriousness of the dangers facing the country from communism and urging them to restore the Qur'an and truths of belief as the ideological basis of the state in place of the imposed philosophy and irreligion, as the sole means of saving it from these threats. Now, with the coming to power of the Democrat Party, Turkey had a government that was to take a firm stand against communism and was sympathetic towards Islam and religion; it intended to reflect the will of the nation and redress the wrongs of the twenty-five years of RPP rule. Thus Bediuzzaman concerned himself to a greater degree with political developments; he offered guidance to the new government primarily by means of letters, his students, and some personal relations with Democrat deputies, pointing out where the dangers lay and how, by adopting policies based on Islamic principles, they could overcome them, and encouraging them in any moves in this direction. He gave them his moral support and urged his students to support them, openly giving them his vote in the elections of 1957, so that the support of the Risale-i Nur movement was of no mean importance for the Democrats, especially as their popularity waned. For Bediuzzaman saw the Democrats as "assisting" the Risale-i Nur Students in their struggle against communism and irreligion, in forming a barrier against these threats and righting the "moral and spiritual damage" they had caused, and so in saving the country from the "immaterial" destruction which they brought about.

Thus, when Bediuzzaman considered political matters, he did so with the eye of making them serve religion. He wrote to the new President, Celâl Bayar: "In the face of those who have ill-treated us making politics the tool of irreligion in fanatical manner, we work for this country and nation's well-being by making politics the tool and friend of religion." [^3]

[^3]:Nursi, Emirdağ Lahikası, ii, 17.

To introduce policies favouring Islam and the strengthening of religion would also heal the breach between Turkey and the Islamic world. Bediuzzaman impressed on the government the need to re-establish relations, for this "would gain [for the country] a reserve force within the sphere of Islamic Unity of three hundred and fifty million through the brotherhood of Islam." [^4] He also supported the signing of the Baghdad Pact in 1955 as an important step in establishing peace in the area. In connection with this he strongly urged the government to give a religious base to the Eastern University that was being planned, which he saw as potentially playing the

[^4]:Ibid., 56.