#### Van

Van

While Bitlis was a religious centre with many 'ulema, there were no well-known 'ulema in Van at that time. Thus, when Molla Said received an invitation from Hasan Pasha, he left Bitlis for Van. He was to stay there off and on studying and teaching, and travelling among the tribes as a conciliator and man of religion until he left for Istanbul at the end of 1907, He was around nineteen or twenty years of age when he moved there.

While in Van, Molla Said stayed first with Hasan Pasha, and then, after İşkodrali Tahir Pasha was appointed governor, for a long period in the governor's residence. Tahir Pasha was a distinguished official much respected by Sultan Abdulhamid II. He served as governor in both Mosul and Bitlis, in addition to the many years he was in Van, and among other things led the delegation which presented Abdulhamid's gifts to the Russian Czar Nicholas in 1902, in Lidvadya. [^54] Tahir Pasha was a patron of learning, and also followed developments in modern science and owned an extensive library, He was the first state official to perceive Bediuzzaman's great talent and potential, and continued to encourage and support him till his death in 1913.

[^54]:Cemal Kutay, Bediüzzaman, 136-7; Şahiner, Son Şahitler, iii, 16-20.

Staying in the governor's residence, Bediuzzaman had the opportunity to mix with the government officials and took up reading the newspapers and journals provided for the governor's office. As he gained more knowledge of the broader issues and problems facing Ottoman society and the Islamic world generally, he realized that the traditional form of Islamic theology was inadequate for answering the doubts that had been raised concerning Islam and that study of modern science was also necessary. Therefore, taking advantage of the facilities, he himself took up the study of the modern sciences, including history, geography, mathematics, geology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and philosophy.

Said did not have a teacher for these subjects; studying books, he taught himself. For example, on one occasion he got into a discussion on geography with a teacher of that subject. The discussion became prolonged and they decided to continue the following day. Within twenty-four hours, therefore, Molla Said memorized a geography book he was able to obtain, and when they again met, silenced the geography teacher in his own subject. And on a second occasion, Molla Said silenced a chemistry teacher, having mastered the principles of inorganic chemistry in five days. [^55]

[^55]:Tarihçe, 44-5. In fact, many years later while describing his years of study in Van to one of his students, Muhsin Alev, Bediuzzaman said that he had studied and mastered all the sciences with the exception of organic chemistry; that was the only one he had not been able to master completely. See, Son Şahitler, i, 227.