The house of Hafiz Ali can be considered as one of the Factories of Nur (Light) which worked day and night for the service of the Risale-i Nur.
The house of Hafiz Ali can be considered as one of the Factories of Nur (Light) which worked day and night for the service of the Risale-i Nur. And if the walls of that house could speak, then it would tell of those who lived and wrote with ardour, and through their pens, line-by-line they embued the walls with the delightful exhalation of Iman (Belief). Hafiz Ali had an enviable writing style, writing the words of Bediuzzaman as though pearls were emanating from his pen. Yet those who were writing with their pens were at any moment in great risk of being caught and captured.
So be it. There will come a day when humanity will become aware of their need for such writings to the extent of the awareness of their need for air and water, and they will want to reach and attain such resources. To such end, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and his students concentrated all their energy so that the writings and treatises would be transmitted to future generations.
Hafiz Ali, who is esteemed as a scholar and as a martyr, in order to hide the writings from the authorities - hid the works inside tin cans and had them walled off. Yet there would surely come a day that those walls would be broken and the writings be revealed.
Necmeddin Sahiner explains the emergence of the writings from Hafiz Ali’s home as follows:
“Curiously we started to knock the walls of the house via tapping the windows. It was then soon understood that there was some form of space or gap. Abdullah Kula, whilst saying “Stop! Stop!” started to push the wall panels back and forth. From these efforts a section from the walls was eventually opened. With great happiness and enthusiasm we gathered the pieces of paper that we found within. We then beat the windows and walls with several hard objects. Then revealed under the windows there were found some particular compartments. These places had not been touched by anybody for nigh half a century. Again, a new section was opened this time transverse and straight down the walls. A little later we found a new treasure – jewels of paper and books. While this was going on, the security warden gazed at the scene with his mouth open. At first he thought we were looking for money or something similar. But we, rather, were looking for the works of Bediuzzaman.”
The walls may not have a language, but there may not be a need. They rather speak to us through what lays hidden within them. (From the Barla Years Catalogue)