tive supports of these two parties, you are obliged to take the truths of Islam as the basis of your support, for they are even more of a drawing force, both materially and spiritually. Or there is the possibility that the crimes committed down the years which you did not commit will be loaded on you as they were on the former party, and the members of the People's Party will adopt racism and defeat you completely. I felt this and am worried for Islam.

Postscript: In my view, the following is the only way the religious Democrats may be saved from having inflicted on them the serious penalties which were dealt out following the Ticânî incidents. [^54] For those incidents resulted from the unnecessary, arbitrary laws of the former party and their exploitation, and even due to its incitements. In this way they may also be saved from losing face in the view of the Islamic world:

[^54]:A group affiliated with the Tijaniyya Order (T. Ticani) which in the early 1950s attacked the many busts and statues of Atatürk in and around Ankara. Accusing the Democrat government of condoning reactionism, the opposition Republican People's Party exploited the question as a means of pressurizing the government. [Tr.]

Just as the Democrats' power was increased tenfold by restoring the Arabic call to prayer, so it would be increased by returning Aya Sophia to its position of five hundred years. The religious Democrats should therefore announce officially the Risale-i Nur's freedom, for it has made a very favourable impression in the Islamic world as well as winning the Islamic world's regard for the people of this country, and nothing harmful has been found in it by courts of law over twenty years and five courts have ruled for its acquittal. They should apply a salve to this wound, They would then both win the good opinion of the Islamic world, and the tyrannical faults of others would not be ascribed to them.

For the sake of the religious Democrats and particularly persons like Adnan Menderes, [^55] I have dwelt on politics for one or two days, although I have given them up for the past thirty-five years.

[^55]:Adnan Menderes (1899-1961); politician and statesman, and founder member of the Democrat Party. He was Prime Minister 1950-1960, and unjustly executed (17 September 1961) following the May 1960 military coup. [Tr.]

S a i d   N u r s i

Nur students who have observed this fact and endorse it,

Ceylân, Halil, Osman, Hamza, et al. ∗∗∗