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CHAPTER ONE
• Van
On arriving in Van, Bediuzzaman stayed with his younger brother, Abdülmecid, a teacher of Arabic, in the Toprakkale district of the town. But we learn from Abdülmecid's wife, Rabia, that his well-wishers and visitors were so numerous that he was obliged to move to Nursin Mosque. This then became Bediuzzaman's base in Van in place of his medrese, the Horhor, which had been razed in the general destruction of the city wrought by the Armenians and occupying Russians during the War. Nursin Mosque became a centre of learning, with large numbers of religious scholars and Seyhs coming to visit Bediuzzaman to pay him their respects and seek his advice. Bediuzzaman again attracted many students and began to teach them, in addition to speaking with his many visitors. This busy life however weighed on Bediuzzaman and impinged on his inner life. So as soon as the weather became sufficiently warm, taking a small number of his students with him, he withdrew from Van to Mount Erek, a mountain among jagged peaks to the east of the town. Here he was able to devote himself entirely to prayer and contemplation.
That he was the New Said was clear to everyone in Van. Most of those who have recorded their memories of him at this time have mentioned some aspect of the changes that had come about in him. The most apparent of these was that he had abandoned the colorful local dress of the area for clothes of a more sober nature. Indeed,
on first seeing his destroyed medrese and the sacked and burnt city of Van, he was to relive the harrowing events of war and the deaths of so many of his students that had been instrumental in bringing about the New Said. Then too they saw that he had altogether turned his back on politics and the world, and those who heard him speak learnt of the way of the New Said, that of saving belief, which would form the basis of renewal and reconstruction.
For the next two years Bediuzzaman stayed on the mountain, inhabiting a cave near the source of the river Zernabad and returning to Van only for the coldest months of the winter. It was also his practice to go down to the town on Fridays, to give the sermon in Nursin Mosque. From what has been recorded of these sermons and what he taught his students, they too were entirely in accordance with the way of the New Said. That is to say, Bediuzzaman concentrated on explaining and teaching the fundamentals of belief, the basic tenets of faith. Such subjects as Divine Unity and the resurrection of the dead and the hereafter. He told one of his students on this being questioned, for his treatment of these subjects was new and different in addition to his congregations being unaccustomed to hearing these basic matters:
“My aim is to construct firmly the foundations of belief. If the foundations are sound, they cannot be destroyed by any upheavals.”
The same student, Molla Hamid, has also quoted Bediuzzaman as saying in relation to this:
"Honoured sirs, the Old Said is dead; you still think of me as the Old Said. This is the New Said you see before you. Almighty God has granted limitless blessings to the New Said... Ten months of the New Said's teaching may be the equivalent of what the Old Said taught in ten years, and sufficient."
The New Said was to find total manifestation in the Risale-i Nur and the three years till the spring of 1926 when he was inspired to write the first parts may be seen as a time of preparation and waiting for Divine Guidance, but it may also be noted that just as, as was
described in a previous chapter, the first writings of the New Said, the Mesnevi-i Nuriye, were "seed-bed" of the Risale-i Nur, so too at this time in Van, some of the `ders's Bediuzzaman gave or subjects he taught were later included in the Risale-i Nur. Another student, Ismail Perihanoğlu, has recorded two instances of this, which we include here:
"...Another day, Molla Resul, Kopanisli Molla Yusuf and I went together with Ustad to Zeve, the people of which had been entirely wiped out in the Armenian massacres. Ustad paused standing, and said:
" `This is the resting-place of martyrs. My brother Molla Ahmed-i Cano lies here also.' And unable to hold back his tears, he wept with great sorrow.
"Molla Ahmed-i Cano had studied with Ustad.
"Later Ustad taught us concerning the levels of life as described in the First Letter. And we afterwards wrote out this `ders' and duplicated it."
On another occasion they climbed to the top of the citadel in Van, and as was Bediuzzaman's practice, he climbed to the very highest point and spread out his prayer-rug there. Looking down on the ruins of his medrese at the foot of the citadel, he spoke of the signs of the end of the world. Then shifting his gaze to Lake Van, he explained the story of Jonah and the whale. He made a comparison of Jonah's situation and that of modem man , and explained how his moral and spiritual state resembles that of Jonah in the belly of the whale. Bediuzzaman later incorporated this into the Risale-i Nur as the First Flash.
Bediuzzaman's absorption in worship has also been commented on by many of those connected with him at this time. His sister-in-law, Rabia, notes that h
supplication. Ismail Perihanoglu notes how Bediuzzaman preferred to perform his worship, an important element of which was contemplation [tefekkür , in high places and elevated spots. Besides describing him climbing to the highest point in the citadel of Van, mentioned above, he tells of another occasion when he found Bediuzzaman on the roof of the mosque plunged in thought.While Molla Hamid who spent the most time with him on Mount Erek, states that Bediuzzaman was never for a moment idle, but always occupied, mostly in prayer and supplication. He spent hours on his knees, so that his toes became raw. When one of his students suggested he sat in a more comfortable position like themselves, he replied:
"We have to win eternal life in this brief life and fleeting world. Both sit comfortably and claim Paradise - that's not possible! I'm not so bold as to sit comfortably!"
Bediuzzaman and his students transformed a ruined monastery on the mountain into a mosque, and in a thicket of trees by the source of the Zernabad, they built a small platform on the interwoven branches for Bediuzzaman, which he found conducive to study, prayer, and contemplation. These tree-houses became a mark of the New Said and after he had been exiled to western Anatolia, he had a number made in spots favourable for `reading the book of the universe'.
Molla Hamid also relates many anecdotes illustrating Bediuzzaman's great kindness towards animals and his respect for them as creatures, and his affinity with them and power over them. The following is an example showing this last, that is, illustrating Bediuzzaman's keramet, or spiritual powers.
A number of people arrived one day on the mountain to visit Bediuzzaman, and when it became apparent they were to stay overnight, Molla Hamid was sent down to a neighboring village to get some quilts. He was frightened of meeting wolves, dogs, or other wild animals, of which there were many, and cut himself a stout
stick. But Bediuzzaman would not allow this. "The dogs won't harm you", he told him.
Molla Hamid set off and on approaching the village, he encountered a flock of sheep or goats guarded by dogs. He saw that a great brute of a dog lay across the path, blocking it. Remembering Bediuzzaman's words, he approached the animal; it rose to its feet and moved off making way for him. On reaching the village, the villagers expressed their astonishment, saying that they could not approach the herd even as a group armed with clubs, for the dogs were fed on sheep's milk to make them sufficiently ferocious to ward off the wolves. Whereupon Molla Hamid told them he had been sent by Bediuzzaman. "Ah," they said. "We can accept it then!"
Molla Hamid took the quilts and retraced his steps. He was met by Bediuzzaman when he arrived, who asked him if he had been attacked by dogs on the way. On hearing that he had not, he told him:
"Have courage! Don't be scared!"
It had been a lesson in courage for Molla Hamid.
Molla Hamid also related this `lesson' which Bediuzzaman gave him. In answer to an unasked question about looking at what is forbidden, Bediuzzaman struck himself angrily on the knee, and said:
"I am not satisfied with the Old Said, I'm only happy at three things about him." Then he added: "At a glittering time in Istanbul, I used to change my dress once a week, splendid clothes. I used to go to the most brilliant places in Istanbul. Then my hoca friends appointed one of themselves as observer and got him to follow me, to see where I went and what I did. Three days later while talking with these friends they said to me: `Said, whatever you do is right. Where you are going is right, and you will be successful in it.' When I asked them why they said this, they told me: `We have had you followed for three days to see if you did anything contrary to Islam, and we saw that you are not concerned with anything apart from your own business. Therefore you will achieve your aims.' Just as a small flame thrown into a forest will by degrees destroy the whole forest, a believer who lowers himself to look at what is forbidden will day by day eat up his actions and destroy them. I am frightened of such a person's end being grievous..." Then he added:
"The Old Said stayed in Istanbul for ten years during his youth, and he did not look at a woman once."
• Van
On arriving in Van, Bediuzzaman stayed with his younger brother, Abdülmecid, a teacher of Arabic, in the Toprakkale district of the town. But we learn from Abdülmecid's wife, Rabia, that his well-wishers and visitors were so numerous that he was obliged to move to Nursin Mosque. This then became Bediuzzaman's base in Van in place of his medrese, the Horhor, which had been razed in the general destruction of the city wrought by the Armenians and occupying Russians during the War. Nursin Mosque became a centre of learning, with large numbers of religious scholars and Seyhs coming to visit Bediuzzaman to pay him their respects and seek his advice. Bediuzzaman again attracted many students and began to teach them, in addition to speaking with his many visitors. This busy life however weighed on Bediuzzaman and impinged on his inner life. So as soon as the weather became sufficiently warm, taking a small number of his students with him, he withdrew from Van to Mount Erek, a mountain among jagged peaks to the east of the town. Here he was able to devote himself entirely to prayer and contemplation.
That he was the New Said was clear to everyone in Van. Most of those who have recorded their memories of him at this time have mentioned some aspect of the changes that had come about in him. The most apparent of these was that he had abandoned the colorful local dress of the area for clothes of a more sober nature. Indeed,
on first seeing his destroyed medrese and the sacked and burnt city of Van, he was to relive the harrowing events of war and the deaths of so many of his students that had been instrumental in bringing about the New Said. Then too they saw that he had altogether turned his back on politics and the world, and those who heard him speak learnt of the way of the New Said, that of saving belief, which would form the basis of renewal and reconstruction.
For the next two years Bediuzzaman stayed on the mountain, inhabiting a cave near the source of the river Zernabad and returning to Van only for the coldest months of the winter. It was also his practice to go down to the town on Fridays, to give the sermon in Nursin Mosque. From what has been recorded of these sermons and what he taught his students, they too were entirely in accordance with the way of the New Said. That is to say, Bediuzzaman concentrated on explaining and teaching the fundamentals of belief, the basic tenets of faith. Such subjects as Divine Unity and the resurrection of the dead and the hereafter. He told one of his students on this being questioned, for his treatment of these subjects was new and different in addition to his congregations being unaccustomed to hearing these basic matters:
“My aim is to construct firmly the foundations of belief. If the foundations are sound, they cannot be destroyed by any upheavals.”
The same student, Molla Hamid, has also quoted Bediuzzaman as saying in relation to this:
"Honoured sirs, the Old Said is dead; you still think of me as the Old Said. This is the New Said you see before you. Almighty God has granted limitless blessings to the New Said... Ten months of the New Said's teaching may be the equivalent of what the Old Said taught in ten years, and sufficient."
The New Said was to find total manifestation in the Risale-i Nur and the three years till the spring of 1926 when he was inspired to write the first parts may be seen as a time of preparation and waiting for Divine Guidance, but it may also be noted that just as, as was
described in a previous chapter, the first writings of the New Said, the Mesnevi-i Nuriye, were "seed-bed" of the Risale-i Nur, so too at this time in Van, some of the `ders's Bediuzzaman gave or subjects he taught were later included in the Risale-i Nur. Another student, Ismail Perihanoğlu, has recorded two instances of this, which we include here:
"...Another day, Molla Resul, Kopanisli Molla Yusuf and I went together with Ustad to Zeve, the people of which had been entirely wiped out in the Armenian massacres. Ustad paused standing, and said:
" `This is the resting-place of martyrs. My brother Molla Ahmed-i Cano lies here also.' And unable to hold back his tears, he wept with great sorrow.
"Molla Ahmed-i Cano had studied with Ustad.
"Later Ustad taught us concerning the levels of life as described in the First Letter. And we afterwards wrote out this `ders' and duplicated it."
On another occasion they climbed to the top of the citadel in Van, and as was Bediuzzaman's practice, he climbed to the very highest point and spread out his prayer-rug there. Looking down on the ruins of his medrese at the foot of the citadel, he spoke of the signs of the end of the world. Then shifting his gaze to Lake Van, he explained the story of Jonah and the whale. He made a comparison of Jonah's situation and that of modem man , and explained how his moral and spiritual state resembles that of Jonah in the belly of the whale. Bediuzzaman later incorporated this into the Risale-i Nur as the First Flash.
Bediuzzaman's absorption in worship has also been commented on by many of those connected with him at this time. His sister-in-law, Rabia, notes that h
supplication. Ismail Perihanoglu notes how Bediuzzaman preferred to perform his worship, an important element of which was contemplation [tefekkür , in high places and elevated spots. Besides describing him climbing to the highest point in the citadel of Van, mentioned above, he tells of another occasion when he found Bediuzzaman on the roof of the mosque plunged in thought.While Molla Hamid who spent the most time with him on Mount Erek, states that Bediuzzaman was never for a moment idle, but always occupied, mostly in prayer and supplication. He spent hours on his knees, so that his toes became raw. When one of his students suggested he sat in a more comfortable position like themselves, he replied:
"We have to win eternal life in this brief life and fleeting world. Both sit comfortably and claim Paradise - that's not possible! I'm not so bold as to sit comfortably!"
Bediuzzaman and his students transformed a ruined monastery on the mountain into a mosque, and in a thicket of trees by the source of the Zernabad, they built a small platform on the interwoven branches for Bediuzzaman, which he found conducive to study, prayer, and contemplation. These tree-houses became a mark of the New Said and after he had been exiled to western Anatolia, he had a number made in spots favourable for `reading the book of the universe'.
Molla Hamid also relates many anecdotes illustrating Bediuzzaman's great kindness towards animals and his respect for them as creatures, and his affinity with them and power over them. The following is an example showing this last, that is, illustrating Bediuzzaman's keramet, or spiritual powers.
A number of people arrived one day on the mountain to visit Bediuzzaman, and when it became apparent they were to stay overnight, Molla Hamid was sent down to a neighboring village to get some quilts. He was frightened of meeting wolves, dogs, or other wild animals, of which there were many, and cut himself a stout
stick. But Bediuzzaman would not allow this. "The dogs won't harm you", he told him.
Molla Hamid set off and on approaching the village, he encountered a flock of sheep or goats guarded by dogs. He saw that a great brute of a dog lay across the path, blocking it. Remembering Bediuzzaman's words, he approached the animal; it rose to its feet and moved off making way for him. On reaching the village, the villagers expressed their astonishment, saying that they could not approach the herd even as a group armed with clubs, for the dogs were fed on sheep's milk to make them sufficiently ferocious to ward off the wolves. Whereupon Molla Hamid told them he had been sent by Bediuzzaman. "Ah," they said. "We can accept it then!"
Molla Hamid took the quilts and retraced his steps. He was met by Bediuzzaman when he arrived, who asked him if he had been attacked by dogs on the way. On hearing that he had not, he told him:
"Have courage! Don't be scared!"
It had been a lesson in courage for Molla Hamid.
Molla Hamid also related this `lesson' which Bediuzzaman gave him. In answer to an unasked question about looking at what is forbidden, Bediuzzaman struck himself angrily on the knee, and said:
"I am not satisfied with the Old Said, I'm only happy at three things about him." Then he added: "At a glittering time in Istanbul, I used to change my dress once a week, splendid clothes. I used to go to the most brilliant places in Istanbul. Then my hoca friends appointed one of themselves as observer and got him to follow me, to see where I went and what I did. Three days later while talking with these friends they said to me: `Said, whatever you do is right. Where you are going is right, and you will be successful in it.' When I asked them why they said this, they told me: `We have had you followed for three days to see if you did anything contrary to Islam, and we saw that you are not concerned with anything apart from your own business. Therefore you will achieve your aims.' Just as a small flame thrown into a forest will by degrees destroy the whole forest, a believer who lowers himself to look at what is forbidden will day by day eat up his actions and destroy them. I am frightened of such a person's end being grievous..." Then he added:
"The Old Said stayed in Istanbul for ten years during his youth, and he did not look at a woman once."