Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture
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unprecedented conquests and is being very favourably received by the Islamic world, and enemies even are becoming friends, our Master's unsociableness, that is, his retreating from society, and his inability to speak and emit sounds, and his feeling as though he has received a blow if his hand is kissed, is a divine visitation in order to preserve the maximum sincerity of the Risale-i Nur, which means not making it the tool of anything other than divine pleasure, be it the ranks and stations of either this world or the next. In fact, our Master even forgave the person who divulged his indispositions. [^73]

[^73]:We asked our Master why he does not meet with people now that the Risale-i Nur is spreading so splendidly and his enemies have been defeated and are showing themselves to be friendly. He replied: "Those people who want to meet with me are either opponents or friends. If they are friends, the hundreds of thousands of copies of the Risale-i Nur speak with them fully in my place, and leave no need for me at all. If those people who want to meet me are hostile, numerous courts of law and experts' committees these past thirty years have found nothing incriminating in the Risale-i Nur or among the Nur students despite their investigating them closely. The facts that twenty-four trials have concluded that the Risale-i Nur contains nothing reprehensible, and four courts have ruled for its acquittal, and on these rulings being finalized, all its books and letters have been returned to their owners, all reply in my place to all those who object to and oppose us. No need remains for me. If any of them want to meet with me personally, all the Nur students are the defence lawyers in one sense of this wretched Said, or seeing that I have lawyers in Ankara and Istanbul, they may see them." His students who are assisting him in essential tasksdue to his severe illness and the infirmities of old age

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In His Name, be He glorified!

Our Master said the following:

The newspaper Cumhuriyet, which opposes us, completely misreported my defence speech and distorted the meaning, including such nonsensical sentences as "to save ten innocent people from darkness because of one criminal" instead of, "so that no harm should come to ten innocent people due to one criminal," Moreover, although the answer I wrote was stated exactly five or six years ago in the Istanbul Second Magistrates' Court and was part of my defence which earned an acquittal in the matter which holds most importance for me, a month or two ago during my trip to Istanbul, completely meaninglessly and maliciously and in order to provoke a storm in a teacup, a public prosecutor handed over the case to the Isparta

4–6 October 2026 · Istanbul

13th International Bediuzzaman Symposium

Visit the symposium website for the programme, papers and registration.