at that time are yielding abundant blessed produce. And the services he performed for me in prison after Hâfız Ali died always recall him to me. Abdullah Çavuş, an important heir of the late Lütfi, together with the heroic Tahirî have made Atabey resemble my village of Nurs. İslamköylü Abdullah performed many services for the Risale-i Nur when Hâfız Ali was alive. I send my greetings to all of them. I offer prayers for the blessed people of Tahirî's household, which is like a small Nur School. I send greetings too to İslâmköylü Halil İbrahim, who is like a fresh sample of Hâfız Ali and calls to mind the loyalty of Milaslı Halil İbrahim, and to the brothers there who resemble him. Also, tell Rüştü's heroic brother in Isparta, Burhan, that he has greatly pleased us and has performed much work for the Risale-i Nur with little. I did tell you that, so don't forget. And go and see Zekâî and say that I offer thanks to Almighty God that He has returned my nephew Abdurrahman to me in the form and name of Zekâî. You know the other things I told you verbally, for you are my letter. ∗∗∗
► (049) ◄
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I was indeed happy at your letters, this time cheerful, about the Risale-i Nur's being unrestricted and spreading by means of the printing press; nevertheless, heroic Tahirî's coming here to work at this important matter caused me to look to the world. I said to myself: "Since my brothers want this so much, we'll search for a solution." Then at night, it occurred to my heart that for two significant reasons divine providence does not permit its complete freedom and its being printed in the old letters in its entirety.
The First Reason: As Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) indicated, it is a valuable act of worship for eager people to spread the lights of belief secretly by writing out copies with their own pens and to get others to write; it is like performing jihad with ink, which in the next world will weigh equally to the blood of martyrs. If the works are printed, those people will not strive with the same eagerness and they will miss out on performing the service of disseminating those works.
The Second Reason: An essential duty of the Risale-i Nur is preserving the Arabic alphabet, which is the script of the vast majority of the Islamic world; if it is printed and published, its treatises will be mostly printed in the new letters, which is all most people know now. This will constitute a fatwa for the reproduction of the Risale-i Nur in the new letters and cause its students to prefer the easier script, For this reason, until now it has not