streets. While the body was washed and wrapped in its shroud on the Wednesday afternoon thousands of white-winged pigeons and birds other sorts flocked and flew in the air above the Dergah. It was raining gently. Bediuzzaman's body was washed by Mullah Abdulhamid Efendi. Also present were Zübeyir, Bayram, Hüsnü, and Abdullah, and also the Risale-i Nur's "first student", Hulûsi Bey. Bediuzzaman's body was then taken to the Ulu Mosque, where it was to rest till it was buried. The Qur'an was read continuously and prayers were recited. The mosque was filled.

The burial was to have taken place on the Friday, but the numbers of people crowding into Urfa from all over Turkey and beyond became so great, the governor called Bediuzzaman's students and said that he would have to be buried on the Thursday following the afternoon prayers. They had no option but to agree. It was announced over loudspeakers.

The funeral prayers were performed in the courtyard of the Ulu Mosque then the bier holding the body was raised up and carried on the hands of the crowd. The governor of Urfa, the mayor, the local garrison commander, the people of Urfa, those of the Risale-i Nur Students who had been able to reach Urfa in time for the burial, thousands of people crowded in and around the mosque then moved in a thronging mass to carry the body the short distance to the Dergah. Everyone wanted to touch the bier, and it was passed from hand to hand as is the custom; after close on two hours it was only with the assistance of soldiers and police, who opened up the way, that it was brought finally to the Dergah and buried.

It was still raining. That night the recitations of the Qur'an continued unceasingly over the grave. Bediuzzaman was now resting near the Patriarch Abraham, the Friend of the Most Merciful. The tomb in which he had been laid had been built in 1954 by a local shaykh called Shaykh Muslim, while repairs were being made to the Dergah. He three times had a dream in which he was told that the tomb belonged to another, as a result of which he ordered that on his death he be buried in the general graveyard. And so they buried Bediuzzaman in the tomb, but it was to be only a temporary resting-place for him.

#### The Military Junta Orders the Removal of Bediuzzaman's Remains to an Unknown Spot

The Military Junta Orders the Removal of

Bediuzzaman's Remains to an Unknown Spot

The military coup Bediuzzaman had foretold occurred on 27 May 1960. Foremost Menderes and leading members of his government, and Democrat deputies, officials, and sympathizers were all rounded up and sent to various camps and prisons. A campaign was started against the Risale-i