been made the headlines in all the newspapers. Through Divine grace, they passed unspotted through Konya, skirting the mosque of Mawlana Jalaluddin.

They continued. Karapınar Ereğli. Now Bediuzzaman could not get out of the car to pray. At sunset they were at Ulukışla. It grew very cold. Bediuzzaman could eat nothing. They passed through Adana in the dark, and reached Ceyhan, where they performed the evening prayers and Hüsnü, the driver, slept for an hour. At the time to eat sahur, they were at Osmaniye. Here they filled up the tank with petrol. Bediuzzaman again ate nothing. At around 7.30 on the morning of 21 March, they reached Gaziantep. They continued. The road was now very rough, churned up with a mixture of snow and mud, but they passed along it without mishap. Finally they reached Urfa at exactly 11 o'clock that morning, which was Monday.

#### Urfa

Urfa

On arriving in Urfa, [^132] the first place they went was the Kadıoğlu Mosque, where Abdullah Yeğin stayed. Bediuzzaman's student since a schoolboy in Kastamonu, he had spent nearly ten years in Urfa, helping to build it up as an important centre of Risale-i Nur activity. They learnt the best hotel, the İpek Palas, and together took Bediuzzaman there. He was now in a very poor state. His students had to virtually carry him up to the room they took, Number 27 on the third floor. There then followed the most extraordinary tussle between the police and government representatives on the one hand, who on the orders of the Interior Minister in Ankara, tried to compel Bediuzzaman to return to Isparta, and his students, the people of Urfa and some officials on the other, who categorically refused to allow the extremely ill and weak Bediuzzaman to be moved anywhere.

[^132]:The following account is taken from Şahiner, Said Nursi, 440-51; Abdullah Yeğin, in Son Şahitler, i, 373-8; Bayram Yüksel, in Son Şahitler, i, 434-40.

Bediuzzaman had a joyous reception from the people of Urfa, who began to gather outside the hotel and visit him in an unending stream. Bayram Yüksel writes that he had to hold Bediuzzaman's hands for the people to kiss. Yet despite his extreme weakness and contrary to his previous practice, he received all who came. And all did come: tradesmen, army officers, soldiers, police, officials, ordinary people; they came in their hundreds. Bediuzzaman explained to Abdullah Yeğin the importance of Urfa, speaking of the service to Islam of its people, who, being Turkish, Arab, and Kurdish, would be a means to unity and Islamic brotherhood. He managed to keep going and receive all the people who kept coming.