form. The Risale-i Nur Students, and particularly Hüsrev, were constantly watched by the police, They still had to act with extreme circumspection, always on the alert against possible raids and harassment of other sorts. [^68]

[^68]:Ibid., 414.

Following Bediuzzaman's visit to Istanbul in 1953, young Risale-i Nur Students including Mehmet Fırıncı in whose house Bediuzzaman had stayed, formed themselves into a group and by degrees undertook similar activities for the publishing and distribution of the Risale-i Nur as far as their limited means allowed. Finally they were given the use of a house near the Süleymaniye Mosque where they were able to instal duplicating machines, all in the greatest secrecy. This house became the first 'Risale-i Nur Study Centre' (dershane) in Istanbul, and these students also formed the nucleus of Risale-i Nur Students in Istanbul, holding the communal readings of the Risale-i Nur in many places throughout the city and with groups of people from all walks of life. [^69]

[^69]:See, Mehmet Fırıncı, in Son Şahitler, iii, 239-43; M. Emin Birinci, in Son Şahitler, i, 264-6; Hakkı Yavuztürk, in Son Şahitler, ii, 267-73.

Bediuzzaman attached the greatest importance to these activities, particularly to the publication, he himself correcting copies, and after they were printed, the proofs. Those in the new letters, he would correct together with one of his students. It often happened that when out in the country he would suddenly decide to return, and he and his students would find one of the Istanbul or Ankara students awaiting him with proofs to be corrected. Bediuzzaman would immediately correct them and do nothing else till they were completed. He also concerned himself with these young students, most of whom were well-educated, reading to them and teaching them from the Risale-i Nur and encouraging them to study it.

Bediuzzaman was seeing now the fruition of the labours of thirty years of exile, imprisonment, and torment. Especially after the Risale-i Nur began to be printed on modern presses in the new letters in 1957 in Ankara and Istanbul, he declared: "This is the Risale-i Nur's festival. My duty is finished. This is the time I have long waited for. Now I can go." He was so filled with joy, he could not stop in one place, wanting to all the time make excursions to Eğridir and its lake, to Barla, and to all the many places of beauty around Isparta, whether by horse, donkey, or car. [^70]

[^70]:Bayram Yüksel, in Son Şahitler, i, 406-7.

Firstly, Bediuzzaman had wanted the Prime Minister, Menderes, to print the Risale-i Nur officially, and one of the Isparta deputies, Dr. Tahsin Tola, had approached him on the matter. Menderes had great respect for