ensure the future of the 'ulema in the eastern provinces, at the same time it would be step towards the unification and reform of general system; so would it deliver Islam from the bigotry, superstitions, and false beliefs which had encrusted parts of it over the centuries; and, importantly, would be a means of introducing modern learning into the medreses in a way which would allay the 'ulema suspicions concerning modern science. Also, it would "open the door to spreading the beneficial aspects of constitutionalism. [^99]

[^99]:ibid, 74-6

Bediuzzaman wished for Islam to function like a consultative council, that is to say, through the mutual consultation (shura) of "the three divisions of the army of Islamic education", those of the medreses, the mektebs, and the tekkes, so that "each would complete the deficiencies of the other". His aim was for the Medresetü'z-Zehra to be an embodiment of this. [^100]

[^100]:ibid, 76.

According to Bediuzzaman, this transforming the medreses from being single-faculty institutions into being multi-faculty and putting into practice "the rule of division of labour" was in accordance with wisdom and the laws of creation. The failure to practise it in previous centuries had led to despotism and the exploitation of learning in the medreses, and the teaching being undertaken by those not qualified to do so. It had headed the medreses towards their destruction. [^101]

[^101]:Nursi, Muhâkemat, 46-7.

In many places, Bediuzzaman stresses the need for students to specialize in a subject for which they have an aptitude, and in addition only study subjects that complement it. Since it is described in some detail in his 'Conversation with the Doctor', together with the need for creative study, debate, and a return to the study of the essential religious sciences by the students, we shall leave the description to there. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that specialization in particular represented a radical break with traditional methods.

Finally, a further point which could be considered radical was Bediuzzaman's view that "public opinion" should prevail among both the 'ulema and the students. That is to say, he believed that it was "scholastic despotism", an offspring of political despotism, "which has opened the way to blind imitation (taqlid), and barred the way to searching for the truth." For the problems of the modern age to be grappled with and progress to be secured, "constitutionalism among the 'ulema should be established "in the