and non-commissioned officers. They had dug a grave and were awaiting us. They immediately and hastily unloaded the coffin, put it in the waiting grave, and covered it with earth. While they were doing this, I looked around, and although I could not see very well, the place resembled a mountain-side. There was a wall about a metre in height. I climbed onto it and looked around; there was not a light to be seen. Everywhere was in complete darkness.

They buried the coffin. The work was finished. An N.C.O. said to me: "Do you want to stay here tonight, Hoja, or do you want to return home?" I thought, what shall I do if I stay here. A short time later a black car arrived. The driver was a soldier. I got in and it set off, After travelling for about one and a half hours we approached a town with lights. I asked the driver where the lights were, what town. He replied, "Eğridir." We continued on our way and I returned to my house in Konya at eight or nine o'clock.

Thus, due to this barbaric act, Bediuzzaman found his final resting-place in his beloved Isparta in accordance with his wishes, and so too, with the exception of two or three of his closest students and a small number of officials bound to secrecy by oath, the location of his grave remains unknown.

Finally, in some couplets entitled Eddâi (The Supplicant), included in the introduction to Leme'ât, a sizeable collection of pieces written in semiverse and first published in 1921, Bediuzzaman foretold both the year of his death and that his grave would be demolished. A literal translation is as follows:

My demolished grave in which is heaped up∗

Seventy-nine dead Said's∗∗ with his sins and sorrows.

The eightieth is a gravestone to a grave;

Altogether they weep∗∗∗ at Islam 's decline.

Together with my gravestone and moaning grave of dead Said's

I go forward to the field of tomorrow 's future.

I am certain that the skies of the future and Asia

Will together surrender to Islam 's clean, shining hand.

For it promises the prosperity of belief;

It affords peace and security to mankind.

Bediuzzaman's footnotes are as follows; the second and third he added in the 1950's:

∗ This line is his signature.

∗∗ Since the body is renewed twice every year, it means that [each year] two Said's have died. Also, this year Said is in his seventy-ninth year. It