truths of belief. And these are not merely dry, abstract questions, they reveal the true nature of man and the universe, infusing them with life and meaning. The reflective thought that is the basis of the Risale-i Nur's way found its most complete expression in the Seventh Ray, The Supreme Sign, which in thirty-three degrees, describes the testimony offered by all the realms of creation and the universe to God's necessary existence and unity. In Bediuzzaman's view, this work puts forward such clear and irrefutable proofs, that "those who want unshakeable belief and seek an unbreakable sword to combat irreligion and anarchy should refer to The Supreme Sign.”

For Bediuzzaman, the true enemies in this age of science, reason, and civilization were materialism and atheism, and their source, materialist philosophy. His aim with the reasoned proofs of the Risale-i Nur, therefore, was to combat these, indeed he claimed to have "utterly defeated them," and, through strengthening the belief of Muslims and raising it to the level of "certain, affirmative belief," to establish through the Risale-i Nur a truly effective barrier against the corruption of society caused by these enemies.

Despite all efforts to stop it, within the twenty-five years of Bediuzzaman's exile the handful of students grew into many thousands, and the Risale-i Nur movement and its service of religious belief and the Qur'an spread throughout Turkey. After 1950, the period of what Bediuzzaman called the Third Said, there was a great increase in the number of students, particularly among the young and those who had been through the secular education system of the republic. At the same time the number of students outside Turkey increased.

The unique function of the Risale-i Nur in the renewal and strengthening of the faith of Muslims everywhere is now recognized worldwide, foremost by the scholars of al-Azhar and leading scholars throughout the Islamic world. Its importance and originality are also becoming increasingly known by the academics and specialists of the Western world.

More than this, by expounding and explaining the universal Qur'anic message in a way that addresses modern man's mentality, which is marked by his doubts and queries about the fundamental questions of life, it addresses all humanity. Indeed, man's need to learn the true nature of both himself and the universe in which he finds himself, and thus what form his relations with his fellow-men and his environment should take, is probably greater now than at any other time in his history. The Risale-i Nur demonstrates that it is only the revealed Qur'an that can provide all these answers, and is thus the source of true progress and civilization for mankind, through which man may find true happiness in this world and the next. ∗ ∗ ∗