tight cordon of soldiers. Acting on the orders they had received, soldiers entered the twin-domed building containing Bediuzzaman's tomb, not by the door, but by breaking the iron grill on the windows. They then began to smash the marble slabs of the tomb with hammers. [^134]

[^134]:Ibid., 456-7.

Abdülmecid continues:

A doctor came up to me and said: "Don't be too anxious and upset. We're moving Ustad to Anatolia. That's why they have brought you here." I completely broke down on hearing these words and I started to weep.

The doctor told the soldiers: "Open that coffin and take Ustad out of it and put him in this one." But the soldiers held back and were frightened, "We can't do it. We'll be struck down", they said. But the doctor told them: "My brothers, we have our orders. We have to do it." We opened the coffin altogether. I was saying to myself, "Seyda's bones will be all mixed up together." But on touching the shroud with my hand, it felt as though he had only just died. Only, the shroud had discoloured slightly round its opening. And on the outside was a stain like from a drop of water. The doctor opened the shroud. I looked at his face; he was smiling. Again altogether we embraced the great and wronged Ustad and placed him in the large, extremely heavy coffin the soldiers had brought. [^135] They filled the empty space in the coffin with grasses and herbs. When everything was completed, we climbed into an army truck and went straight to the airfield. The streets were all being patrolled by soldiers with bayonets fixed.

[^135]:As Abdülmecid had mentioned, there were two coffins: one of galvanised metal, which was placed inside a large second coffin of zinc. They were sealed with solder on Bediuzzaman's body being placed in them, after being treated with chemicals.

The coffin would not fit in the first plane. [Hours later] a second plane arrived. We put the coffin in it, and I sat beside it. I was utterly sorrowful and my eyes full of tears. [^136]

[^136]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 463-4.

And to continue from another account by Abdülmecid which is more detailed:

I reckon the journey was six to seven hours. We landed at Afyon near mid-afternoon. Of course, it was they who said it was Afyon. After landing, they unloaded the coffin and placed it in an army lorry. I again sat in the driver's cab. Behind us were two jeeps and small trucks. We set off. It was a mountainous region. I don't know where we went and in what direction, and I didn't ask. I was as though dazed by the situation.

We travelled slowly for I reckon about seven hours, in the late hours of the night we arrived somewhere and stopped. There were several soldiers