(tarikat). Whereas those who know me know that I teach the truths of belief and the Qur'an, not the Sufi way, as has been established in courts of law. The people who listen to my teachings are called Nur students. Our way is not the Sufi way; it is the truths of belief.

Its Second Lie: The calumniating paper mixes in some erroneous statements from another newspaper, saying: "The young people of Eğirdir have begun to combat Said and his disciples." All the youths of Isparta and Eğirdir know that this is absolutely baseless. In fact, when they heard about it, they protested angrily. It was just that a man from Eğirdir who is not young wrote somewhat critically that he had met with me thirty years ago. So to say that the youths had started to combat them is a clear lie. The fact is I always look on all young people whoever they are as brothers, I have not heard of any youth in either Isparta or Eğirdir who is working against me or my students.

Its Third Calumny: The libellous newpaper says quoting someone else: "Said and his disciples are secretly engaging in politics. They are trying to change this country's system by breaching public peace and security." The fact that five courts in twenty-eight years have acquitted me on this proves that it is a lie and that I have no connection with politics. And the fact that there has been not even the slightest sign of this shows just how defamatory it is. All my friends know that for the past thirty-five years I have completely withdrawn from politics, as has been established by the courts.

Its Fourth Calumny: Said Nursi called some women devils. What I actually said was: "In the former (pre-republican) period in the large cities, especially Christian girls who were immodestly dressed, or even half naked, were damaging Islamic morality under the leadership of Satan." It is a clear and most ugly falsification to distort these sentences about a few immodestly dressed girls as though they refer to all women. I accord women the greatest respect, importance, and value in my treatise entitled, A Conversation with the Women, and since they are ahead of men in respect of compassion and one of the Risale-i Nur's key principles is compassion, I refer to them as "My Esteemed Sisters," and am more than aware of their genuineness and sincerity.

Its Fifth Libellous Calumny: Its using the term "an accursed idea" to refer to reactionism and retrogression, meaning, returning to the injunctions and morality of Islam, is a disbelieving slander that would cause the globe of the earth to tremble, and is an insult to not only the people of Isparta and the Nur students, but also to the world of Islam.

S a i d   N u r s i,

who is very ill and very old. ∗∗∗