the one hand, and the possibilities for progress that Freedom provides on the other. Together with this, it constitutes a programme of what must be achieved and what must be avoided in order to preserve Freedom and secure progress. In doing this it describes some of the causes of the Ottoman decline.

O Freedom! ... I convey these glad tidings to you, that if you make the Shari'a, which is life itself, the source of life, and if you grow in that paradise, this oppressed nation will progress a thousand times further than in former times, if, that is, it takes you as its guide in all matters and does not besmirch you through harbouring personal enmity and thoughts of revenge... Freedom has exhumed us from the grave of desolation and despotism, and summoned us to the paradise of unity and love of nation...

...The doors of a suffering-free paradise of progress and civilization have been opened to us... The Constitution, which is in accordance with the Shari'a, is the introduction to the sovereignty of the nation and invites us to enter like the treasury-guard of Paradise. O my oppressed compatriots! Let us go and enter!

So, having pointed out that sovereignty will now lie with the nation, Bediuzzaman goes onto describe "five doors" that have to be entered, or five principles to which the state should be bound so that this paradise might be attained. The first is "the union of hearts". This has been described as preserving the consciousness of the Ottoman state's unity and wholeness, especially in the face of the nationalist and separatist movements of the minorities. The second door is "love of the nation;" that is, the individuals who make up the nation being aware of their nationhood and nurturing love for one another, remembering that "the foundation and spirit of our true nationhood is Islam." [^120] The third is "education", which refers to the cultural and educational level of the nation being raised to a satisfactory point. The fourth is "human endeavour"; that is, everyone being guaranteed work and receiving fair recompense for their labour. And the fifth door is "the giving up of dissipation", which is understood as the giving up of ostentation and extravagance, both on an individual level and as a society, which cause discord, and were a malaise afflicting state officials in particular at that time. [^121]

[^120]:Nursi, Hutbe-i Şamiye, 47 (Eng. tr.: The Damascus Sermon. Istanbul, 2001, 51).

[^121]:Safa Mürsel, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi ve Devlet Felsefesi, 249-252; Kutay, Tarih Sohbetleri, i, 207.

Bediuzzaman points out the harmful effects of the vice and immorality that result from despotism, material as well as moral, while "The voice of