► (110) ◄ The Reply to a Falsifying Journalist Concerning the University of the East

The Reply to a Falsifying Journalist

Concerning the University of the East

In reply to an article about Atatürk University which appeared in the newspaper Ulus on 1.4.1954, written by a fiercely critical member of the opposition party, we are here explaining the truth about the university. It is as follows:

Our Master, Said Nursi, spared no effort over the last fifty years to found the university which is now called Atatürk University. Although he was opposed to them, the Unionists and Sultan Reşad assigned nineteen thousand gold liras for its construction, and its foundations were laid in Van. Then, with the outbreak of the Great War, it was abandoned. At the beginning of the republican period, our Master again made attempts, presenting the matter to the deputies in the National Assembly in Ankara. There, although he was completely opposed to the leadership and had renounced politics and was in some ways opposed to them, saying that he had given up the world; and although he told Mustafa Kemal that those who fail to perform the obligatory prayers are traitors and he refused his offer of important posts such as general preacher in the eastern provinces, with its salary and perks; the decision was still taken for the founding of the university in the east and it was allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras and the bill was signed by one hundred and sixty-three deputies out of two hundred and ratified by Mustafa Kemal. That is to say, at that time, the university was the most pressing question concerning the east. And now the need is twenty times greater, Finally, the decision has been taken by the present Islamic government for its construction, again as a result of our Master's initiative and encouragement.

We are presenting one or two points — only a drop from the ocean — describing the universal importance of the Eastern University.

The First: The university is like a heart at the centre of Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Anatolia. It is both an al-Azhar University and a Medresetü'z-Zehrâ.

The Second: All humanity is now seeking ways to secure universal peace, that is, to prevent the corruption of humanity. Pacts and agreements are being signed. The Islamic government here is trying to establish friendly relations with countries from Yugoslavia to Spain, for general peace and reconciliation and its own benefit. The sole solution for this is the Risale-i Nur, a book of instruction of the person who first proposed the projected Eastern University, which reconciles the positive sciences with