and communism in the context of the end of time and insisted above all else that what took precedence in the struggle against these was the saving and strengthening of belief. It is also in this context that his insistence on the way of positive action and peaceful jihad or jihad of the word (mânevî jihad) for the Risale-i Nur Students should be seen. Another of the unique features of the Nur movement, it may be seen as an important factor in both its survival and growth during the twenty-five years of single-party rule, and continued growth ever since.

Bediuzzaman stated that the aim of those working to impose materialist philosophy was destruction of a moral, immaterial nature. Thus, the prime duty of the Risale-i Nur Students was "the service to belief which resulted in the preservation of public order and security." Their service had to be of a constructive nature, repairing the damage, and acting as a barrier against it. It was in the cause of this positive action that Bediuzzaman, who had bowed before no one as the Old Said, as the New Said bore with patience all the insults, injustice, and torments meted out to him. Moreover, despite the fact that they were utilized against him, he accepted the law and state institutions rather than challenging them; his battle was with the small number who, concealing their true faces, were the moving force behind the destruction that was being wrought. It was a covert battle, and it was due to Bediuzzaman and his students responding positively to the provocation, subversion of the law, and other illegal attempts of this "5%" to silence and eliminate them, that they prevailed over them. Although the latter fell from power, the struggle between those working to establish materialist philosophy of some form under the guise of Westernization or modernization and those striving in the way of Islam and religion continued in essentially the same form. Thus, the last time Bediuzzaman addressed his students before his death, the point he stressed above all others was this question of positive action and peaceful jihad. And this is the way the movement had adhered to.

Turkey had been virtually broken off from the Islamic world during the years of single-party rule. On the Democrats gaining power in 1950, one of Bediuzzaman's endeavours was to have the Risale-i Nur translated into Arabic so that it could show the effectiveness in the strengthening and renewal of belief it had demonstrated in Turkey on a wider scale. As many Islamic countries were gaining their independence he saw this as a means to Islamic Unity; unity based on the "brotherhood of belief' from which would spring co-operation in many fields. Indeed, it was at this time that he translated (from Arabic into Turkish) the text of his Damascus Sermon of 1911, and had it published with alterations, which deals with this ques-