hundred thousand devoted Nur students, and for twenty-eight years we have been subjected to this cruel ill-treatment, the six provinces and six courts of law that have been concerned with the Nurjus have been unable to record any incident involving them. This proves that the Nurjus are the protectors of public security. Through their instruction in belief, they instil a prohibitor in everyone's head and preserve public order. The fair-minded police of three provinces have affirmed this.

The Third: They have declared me guilty saying, He wants to exploit religion for political ends. A decisive reply to this is my article entitled, "It is Only the Truth that Speaks," in the one hundred and sixteenth issue of Sebilürreşad. A summary of it is as follows:

The Answer: Those who accuse of exploiting religion for politics a person who is over eighty years of age and at the door of the grave, and whose whole life testifies that he is ready to sacrifice his whole world for religion and if necessary his personal life in the hereafter, who has absolutely nothing in this world, and has given up politics for thirty-five years, and concerning this matter five courts have found no certain evidence — those making this accusation are totally wrong, unjust, and unfair. In addition to these slanders, they say that he wants to disturb public order and security. But the lesson in truth he has taken from the Qur'an and he has taught to his students, is this:

If one innocent man is found in a house or on a ship together with ten criminals, the justice of the Qur'an forbids the burning down of the house or sinking of the ship lest harm comes to the innocent man. To burn or sink them in order to destroy one criminal when they hold nine innocent people is therefore a grievous wrong, cruelty, and perfidy. In consequence, since divine justice and the truth of the Qur'an severely forbids harming or placing in danger by disturbing public order and security, ninety innocent people due to ten criminals, owing to that lesson of the Qur'an we consider ourselves compelled religiously to preserve public order with all our strength.

There is no doubt that our covert enemies who accuse us of these three or four matters and preoccupy the courts with us unnecessarily, want either to exploit politics for irreligion or under the veil of communism, either knowingly or unknowingly, to establish anarchy in this blessed country. For any Muslim who leaves the fold of Islam becomes an apostate and anarchist, and spreads poison in the life of society. For anarchy recognizes no rights and transforms human nature into that of savage animals. The Qur'an alludes to the fact that the secret society of Gog and Magog, which will appear at the end of time, will be composed of anarchists.

S a i d   N u r s i ∗∗∗