prized quality, Bediuzzaman was held in awe by all the tribes of the area. Mustafa Pasha was still persisting in his lawlessness and oppression, and this time tried to placate Bediuzzaman by giving him money and a horse as gifts. But following his usual practice, Bediuzzaman refused them, and pointing out that above all he could never accept money from a wrongdoer like himself, told him that if indeed he had gone back on his word to give up all oppression and wrongdoing, he would not reach Jizre, for which he was headed. And indeed, they heard later that Mustafa Pasha had died on the road, and had never reached Jizre. [^66]

[^66]:Tarihçe, 46.

One day while in the governor's residence in Van, they came to Bediuzzaman and said there was a simply-dressed villager waiting to see him at the door. He immediately went down to find his father, Sofi Mirza, who had ridden over to Van from Nurse Bediuzzaman kissed his hand and brought him into the house. Feeling abashed, Mirza implored his son not to say that he was his father. Bediuzzaman took him to the room where the governor and other notables were gathered, and Sofi Mirza sat himself down as inconspicuously as possible in a place near the door. However, Bediuzzaman introduced him to all present, saying: "This is my father, Sofi Mirza Efendi!" and seated him at the top of the room next to Tahir Pasha. [^67]

[^67]:Şahiner, Said Nursi, 71.

Bediuzzaman's dress was distinctive. With a large dagger and pistol at his waist and a bandolier slung across his chest, baggy trousers, and on his head a shawl wound round a conical hat, it resembled the dress of a tribal chief rather than that of a scholar.

One of his friends, Malazgirtli Acem Ağa, said to him one day:

"Seyda! Why don't you dress in accordance with your learning, in a manner that befits it?" Bediuzzaman replied:

"What are you saying, Acem Ağa? Ömer Pasha wanted to give me a villa, a thousand gold liras, and one of his daughters so that I would change my dress, and I still would not change it for all that." [^68]

[^68]:Ibid., 71.

As we shall learn later, of the reasons Bediuzzaman did not consent to forsake the local dress of eastern Anatolia, was his desire to draw attention to the region and its problems, to stress the importance of provincial development in maintaining the unity of the Empire, and, by publicizing local industry, to create a demand for it. [^69] That is to say, he wore this striking

[^69]:Ibid., 91.