monolith of Van's citadel had become a gravestone to all of them." O you who are to come three hundred years hence, plant the flower of a Nur School on the summit of the citadel! That is to say, construct a physical Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, which has not yet been resurrected bodily but lives in the spirit extensively and populously.

In any event, the Old Said lived mostly following the dream of that medrese, and from pages 147 to 157, the printed work explains the founding and vital advantages of the Medresetü' z-Zehrâ.

It is an auspicious sign that on the collapse of the ghastly twenty-five- year despotism which killed the medreses, the Education Minister, Tevfik, [^23] decided on the construction of a Medresetü'z-Zehrâ in Van called the University of the East, and beyond all hope in the midst of pressing affairs, the President, Celâl, even, shared Tevfik's views. This indicates that the Old Said's predictions and hopes of forty years will be realized.

[^23]:Tevfik İleri (1911-1961) acted as Minister of Education and of other departments in all the Democrat governments of the 1950s. [Tr.]

Here, three truths will be explained, to elucidate the answer of forty-five years ago.

The First: With a premonition, the Old Said perceived two strange events, but they needed interpreting like true dreams. Just as if something black or white is beheld through a red filter, it appears red; so he beheld the truth of the matter through the filter of Islamic politics, and it altered it to a degree. The lofty saint who was present saw the error and objected violently in the way explained. There are two parts to the truth of it:

The First: He used to say that a brilliant light would appear in the Ottoman lands, and even before the proclamation of the constitution he many times told this to his students in order to console theme He said too that in the face of all the evils they were witnessing, it would bring happiness to this country. Forty years later, the Risale-i Nur demonstrates this truth to eyes that are blind even.

Not considering the Risale-i Nur's narrow field quantitatively, but perceiving the vast benefits it would yield in regard to quality and reality, and looking from the point of view of politics, he spoke of it as occurring throughout the Ottoman lands. The lofty saint objected because [Said] conceived of its narrow field being extensive. He was right, but the Old Said was also right. For since the Risale-i Nur saves belief, that narrow field saves through belief, everlasting, eternal life, and a million of its students become like a thousand million. That is to say, to try to secure not a million, but a thousand people's eternal life is more valuable and in effect