government. Also, the revitalization of a number of other medreses would be an important means of securing the future life — both material, and moral and spiritual — of Kurdistan. In this way, the basis of education would be established, and together with making over to the government this huge force which is now being dissipated in internal conflict, it would cause it to be expended outwardly. And it would demonstrate that they are thoroughly deserving of justice, and capable of being civilized, as well as displaying their natural ability. [^94]
[^94]:Nursi, Asar-ı Bedi'iyye, 366-7; Şahiner, Said Nursi, 85-7.
Thus, Bediuzzaman was finally successful in presenting to the Palace an outline of his proposals, the fruit of his own experience over many years. And, pointing out some of the damaging results of the system as it then was, he with foresight predicted problems of great magnitude in the future.
Bediuzzaman's ideas on educational reform were far-reaching and innovative. They are in part described above and in his 'Conversation with the Doctor' following this section. But due to their importance we include a summary of them in their entirety.
The heart of his proposals lay in reconciling "the three main branches" of the educational system, the medreses or traditional religious schools, the mektebs or new secular schools, and the tekkes or Sufi establishments, and the disciplines they represented. The embodiment of this rapprochement was the Medresetü'z-Zehra, which has been mentioned earlier. Bediuzzaman attached the greatest importance to establishing this university where the religious sciences and modern sciences would be taught side by side and "combined", and pursued it till the end of his days.
The second main area of his proposals concerned the complete restructuring of medrese education. The proposals were extremely modern in their approach and consisted of what might be described as the democratization of the medrese system, and its diversification so that "the rule of the division of labour" could be applied.
A third area concerned the preachers, who "guided the general public".
While the role the Medresetü'z-Zehra was to play was seen by Bediuzzaman to be vital for securing the future of Kurdistan and unity of the Empire as well as acting as an important centre for the eastern Islamic world, the general principles it represented were applicable to all medreses. Several of the conditions Bediuzzaman considered to be essential were mentioned in the petition: the Medresetü'z-Zehra and its two sister establishments should be known by the familiar name of medrese and the instruction should be in a language known by potential students. In another