My brothers! The Risale-i Nur now prevails over this country. It has broken the backs of the Masons and communists. You will suffer some difficulties, but the end will be truly good. [^129]

[^129]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 436.

In the morning his condition was easier and he announced that they were returning to Isparta. The preparations were made and unlike previous occasions when Bediuzzaman had left for somewhere else, this time he bade a sorrowful farewell to the faithful Çalışkan's and all his students in Emirdağ. Still, the doctor wrote, it did not occur to them that he was going to die. It was only when they later heard the news from Urfa that they realized that he had been bidding them farewell for the last time. [^130]

[^130]:Tahir Barçın, in Son Şahitler, ii, 133.

Later in the afternoon of 19 March, Bediuzzaman arrived back in Isparta. His students Tahiri Mutlu and Bayram Yüksel were waiting for him. An hour previously the police had come searching for him saying that they had left Emirdağ. The account is now Bayram Yüksel's. [^131] He states that it was with great difficulty that they got Bediuzzaman out of the back seat of the car, where he lay, and up the stairs to the house. He was running a high temperature and could not be left. That night at around two o'clock Bayram and Zübeyir were with him when Bediuzzaman suddenly said: "We're going!" On their asking where, he replied: "Urfa... Diyarbakir." They thought he was feverish. He kept on repeating, "Urfa. We're going to Urfa." The car tyres needed repairing, but he insisted, even if it means hiring another car, they would go. Finally, the repairs were done, the back of the car was made up as a bed and at exactly 9 o'clock on 20 March they were ready for the road. Two police were watching the house. Tahiri Ağabey was to remain to watch the house; he was not to open the door to the police. Bediuzzaman said good-bye to the landlady, Fıtnat Hanım, she also would say nothing to the police of their destination; and they set off.

[^131]:Bayram Yüksel, in Son Şahitler, i, 429-34.

It was raining. The rain grew harder and they were not seen as they passed through Eğridir. Before Sarkîkaraağaç they daubed the numberplate in mud, and after it, Bediuzzaman recovered a little, got out of the car and renewed his ablutions at a spring by the side of the road and performed the prayers on a flat rock. Later his condition again worsened and he could not speak. On entering Konya they stopped and bought cheese and olives with which to break the Ramadan fast. They had all been reciting Ayat al-Kursi since leaving Isparta against the evil intentions of the governor of Konya, whose vow that he would "rip up the Nurcus by the roots" had