To Afyon Criminal Court

I say in reply to the matters which have been put forward as offences, that I took part in the imaginary activities against the regime reputedly perpetrated by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who is accused of founding a secret society and by exploiting religious feelings, of being engaged in activities that might breach state security:

1. Yes, like many Risale‑i Nur students, I began to collect the treatises of the Risale‑i Nur and to read them with the intention of receiving a civilized, religious education and learning Qur’anic conduct, which is a national characteristic and is worthy of true Turkism and Islam, and an historical honour and virtue of ours. I intended to become a useful member of the country and nation, and defend it against the effects of foreign ideologies.

How could it be considered an offence at a time vice and immorality have trampled the honour and mode of action of our forefathers, which found fame in history, and poisoned the life of society, and have spilled into the streets to the extent of disgusting even the immoral, alarming public opinion, so that it is gossiped about in every home, and this grievous situation, which gives rise to criticism in the form of news about the moral police and of various other subjects in the newspapers and magazines, which are the tongue of public opinion, is rapidly spreading and quite simply becoming general – to read the Risale‑i Nur Collection at such a time, which saved me as it saves all Muslims who read it; and to give it to my compatriots when they insistently asked for it, who knew and heard that I read these works, so that it could rectify their morals too; and so to save through the Risale‑i Nur and its effective teachings these people who had lost their moorings and were becoming harmful for the country and nation; and to give it to them to read since it would assist them to become useful to humanity – how could this be considered an offence? It is the luminous, effective weapon of Bediuzzaman in his sacred, moral struggle, which is worthy of praise and appreciation. With his effective teachings about religion he is a mujahid, fighting against the dangerous red plague of communism which is spreading like an epidemic even in our country and makes the whole world tremble – how could it be considered a crime for myself to have given these treatises to people when they have thus in twenty years transformed into useful members of the country and nation twenty thousand people, and probably more? And how could charges be made against its respected author in the same way? I ask your consciences.

698

2. The Hadith which the prosecution stated was “false” and therefore unscholarly, is said to be “sound” in the books of Hadiths. So having been accepted by the scholars of Hadiths, and the fact that the leading Istanbul scholars both before the Constitutional Revolution and during it accepted Bediuzzaman’s interpretations and replies, which are now found in the Fifth Ray, to the questions they asked of him in connection with the questions asked of them by the Japanese and the Anglican Church, and those prominent scholars did not object to his replies establishes definitely that the Hadith is sound.

Moreover, the truths of not a part of the Risale‑i Nur, but of all of it, are so powerful that no true Islamic scholar could object to them, so that foremost the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and true scholars throughout the country since the Constitutional Period, have been compelled to accept and respect them. The objections of one or two individuals who are known as scholars but who are bereft of true knowledge do not refute those truths and powerful proofs. They are merely ridiculous.

699

Is it a betrayal of the regime to write a letter of thanks to the author of the Risale‑i Nur because one is captivated by the truths of the Qur’an and belief it contains, the spiritual and material benefits of which have become clear, and which are studied all over the country by every class of person in order to save their eternal lives from extinction, and from which thousands of compatriots have profited and so are eternally indebted to their esteemed author, since he has saved their belief; is it a betrayal, relying on the undeniable truths stated by the Hadith which is deemed to constitute an offence, to consider certain acts and works to have appeared in this country, which are referred to by the Hadith, and supposing it to be thus, relying on the statements of numerous Islamic scholars, to see it as a victory of the Qur’an which will lead to the repairing of certain errors and to be pleased at this, and to privately put this view to a Master from whose works one has received effulgence; and to hope that the country and nation will not fall into anarchy and thus into the embrace of the Red Peril, which causes the whole world to tremble – is this a betrayal of the regime? Is it to malign the reforms?

And although several courts of law have acquitted that scholar, who is utterly deserving of commendation and appreciation, and although he is very elderly, a recluse, and has no one, to charge him with the same matters, arrest him, put him into solitary confinement, and send him to trial, and for us too, to consider to be a crime these scholarly views of ours and our working to save our belief, and to put these forward as evidence of our supposed breaching of state security, is the just decision of which conscience? I ask this of your court and leave it to your consciences.

3. The charge of “Carrying Bediuzzaman’s picture as though it were something sacred, and collecting his letters, and corresponding with him.”

To carry not a simple picture, but one decorated in gold and jewels, of the universal scholar and esteemed author who through his works has saved my spiritual life and eternal life from extinction, and allowed me to experience the pleasure and happiness of physical life, and who has saved the belief of thousands like me, and to send him letters and congratulate him, and to get to know others who love him, is my right as it is for all members of humanity. I do not suppose this right of mine to constitute a crime, and finally I say:

700

As the police of two provinces and numerous towns can testify, in order to be able to serve this country, nation, and humanity, for long years the Risale‑i Nur students have saved themselves through the Risale‑i Nur from being aimless, and have been the means of saving others. Although the patriotic service they have performed for this country and its government has in reality been greater than a police force of thousands, and is worthy of recognition and appreciation, it has been misinterpreted and we have been arrested, as though deliberately on behalf of some foreign power. All our work and businesses have gone to rack and ruin and our wretched families and children have been left weeping and destitute. Which laws of democracy does this conform to? Which just decisions of which just judges?

I request from your respected court, which executes justice in the name of the just Turkish nation and its high Assembly, that these works, the numerous benefits and advantages of which are obvious and undeniable, are left free and that we are acquitted.

Prisoner, Safranbolulu Mustafa Osman,Afyon Prison