religious sciences and the modern sciences, together with the founding of a university in the eastern provinces of the empire, the Medresetü’z-Zehra, where this and his other proposals would be put into practice. In 1907 his endeavours in this field took him to Istanbul where he sought the backing of the sultan, Abdulhamid. Although subsequently he twice received funds for the construction of his university, and its foundations were laid in 1913, it was never completed due to war and the vicissitudes of the times.

Contrary to the practice of religious scholars at that time, Bediuzzaman studied and mastered many of the physical and mathematical sciences, and later studied philosophy, for he believed that it was only in this way that Islamic theology (kalām) could be renewed and solutions be found for the many problems besetting the Ottomans and the Islamic world. Threats to the Qur'an led him to vow that he would "prove and demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun!" He strove to employ his superior knowledge of both the traditional religious and the modern sciences in the service of the Qur'an; to prove its miraculousness, defend it against criticisms made largely in the name of science and progress, and relate its truths in the light of modern advances in knowledge. He sought to prove that the Qur'an was the source of true progress and civilization, and since this was the case, Islam would dominate the future, despite its relative decline and regression at that time.

The years up to the end of the First World War were the final decades of the Ottoman Empire and were, in the words of Bediuzzaman, the period of the Old Said. In addition to his endeavours in the field of learning, he served the Empire and Islam through active involvement in social life and the public domain. In the War, he commanded a militia force on the Caucasian Front against the invading Russians, for which he was later awarded a War Medal. To maintain the morale of his men he himself disdained to enter the trenches inspite of the constant shelling, and it was while withstanding the overwhelming assaults of the enemy that he wrote his celebrated Qur'anic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness, dictating to a scribe while on horseback. Stating that the Qur'an encompasses the sciences which make known the physical world, the commentary is an original and important work which Bediuzzaman hoped would serve as a model for future commentaries, as he was unable to complete it at that time. He was taken prisoner in March 1916 and held in Russia for two years before escaping in early 1918, and returning to Istanbul via Warsaw and Vienna.

The defeat of the Ottomans saw the end of the Empire and its dismemberment and the occupation of Istanbul and parts of Turkey by imperialist forces. These bitter years saw also the transformation of the Old Said into