To Afyon Criminal Court
I am charged with founding a secret society and breaching state security. As I shall set out below, since you will form the certain opinion that I have committed no such crime, I reject the charge here and now. Yes, I can say gratefully and outright that I am a Risale‑i Nur student. It would be contrary to the virtue the Risale‑i Nur has taught me to deny it, and I cannot commit such a misdemeanour. A person who reads the Risale‑i Nur would not conceal it. On the contrary, he would proclaim it proudly and fearlessly. For it contains not a single word or sentence that demands hesitation.
I tried to describe the Risale‑i Nur’s value in forty to fifty pages. I cannot say that I praised it. For I do not have the ability to praise any part of the Risale‑i Nur, let alone the whole collection. For it is a true commentary on the All‑Wise Qur’an, which is the sun of the universe and its intelligence, and has been illuminating and guiding humanity for around one thousand three hundred years.
If any matter related to a secret society has been found in the works, as I stated above, I attempted to describe the value of, then punish me for the crime of trying to disseminate harmful works. However, the wonderful way in which the Risale‑i Nur is written has been affirmed by learned scholars; it is sufficiently powerful to reform a corrupted society; it is a guide for the people of the twentieth century and saves them from misguidance and the vice they are dragged down to by materialism and naturalism, and from the dense darkness of their ideas; and through the effulgence of the Qur’an, it has opened up for mankind a way leading to happiness and salvation, pointing it out clearly with its light. So if the Risale‑i Nur Collection does not contain any discussions related to the crime of which I am accused, it is my opinion that your court too will agree that to punish me would be contrary to justice.
I was asked by the examining magistrate: “Are you a Risale‑i Nur student?”
I do not consider myself worthy to be the student of a genius like Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. But if he accepts me, I proudly confess: “Yes, I am a Risale‑i Nur student.”
Having been slandered on numerous occasions by his secret enemies, my Master Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the peerless author of the Risale‑i Nur, has been sent to court, and every time has been acquitted. The Risale‑i Nur has been scrutinized line by line by committees of professors and Islamic scholars and they have given reports stating that the work is written with unsurpassed knowledge and is a true commentary on the Qur’an. Since that is the truth, why is he sent to court? My firmly held views on this subject are as follows:
Those who read the Risale‑i Nur, especially the perceptive young, acquire a powerful belief. They become unshakeably self‑sacrificing and religious and devoted to their country. The immorality and vice inculcated by negative ideologies can find no foothold where there is indestructible faith. The more those with such belief increase in number, Freemasonry and communism cannot expand and spread. The Risale‑i Nur proves rationally, logically, and in scholarly fashion with verses from the Qur’an and extremely powerful proofs and arguments, that materialist philosophy, on which communism is based, has absolutely no connection with truth and reality, and that its theories are completely unfounded. It illumines those who fall into the darkness of those rotten ideas, and saves them. It proves Allah’s (May His glory be exalted!) existence with powerful evidences that cannot be denied or objected to, to even materialists, who believe only what their eyes can see.
With its original and attractive style and elevated literary art, this wonderful work quite simply makes itself read, and by high school and university students in particular.
It is because of this that the communists and Masons know that the Risale‑i Nur forms a powerful obstacle to the spread of their poisonous ideas. They have recourse to various stratagems and calumnies in order to eliminate the Risale‑i Nur, or not to have it read, since, as a true Qur’anic commentary, it is a powerful source of belief. Although up to now there has been no sign whatsoever of any of the lies they have ascribed to us, they continue to attack us.
It is understood from this that they want to intimidate us, make us give up the Risale‑i Nur and at the same time put before us their own putrid publications. In this way, causing the nation and youth to lose their faith altogether, they want to bring about a decline in moral standards, and thus to make the country cave in on itself. It is their ambition to hand over this country and its people to a foreign power.
In the presence of the bench of judges I say this fearlessly: They should know this and tremble; we are not to be intimidated by mere threats. For we have seen truth and reality in the Risale‑i Nur, and learnt it and believed in it. The Turkish youth is not sleeping. This heroic Islamic Turkish nation will not bow down under the yoke of another country. The religious, warlike Turkish nation, the believing, brave Turkish youth, fear nothing. It is for this reason that we read the Risale‑i Nur, which raises us to the highest degrees of humanity, ensures that we advance in every field, and instilling in us young people love of religion, country, and nation, makes us true lovers of religion who will sacrifice all our beings for them. And we shall read this work.
As I stated above, I have read very little of the Risale‑i Nur, and yet I have profited enormously. This work is of the very greatest benefit for this country and nation and for all humanity, and if I had wealth, I would spend all of it to publish it. For I am ready to sacrifice my whole being for my religion and the eternal happiness and well‑being of my country and nation.
Moreover, I have not believed in the Risale‑i Nur naively. Thirty‑three verses of the Qur’an, and Imam ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) and ‘Abd al-Qadir Geylani (May Allah be pleased with him) made predictions that the Risale‑i Nur would be written and would offer guidance to the people of this age. Furthermore, the parts of the Risale‑i Nur that I have read have made me form the opinion that this collection consists of works that teach truth and reality and that reform humanity.
I felt a great emptiness in my spirit, and when searching for a book to read, I came across the Risale‑i Nur. Then when I read it, I could not be without it or put it down. I felt that the Risale‑i Nur was meeting the overwhelming need in my heart. I found in it the rational proofs of belief to save me from doubts about belief and knowledge. In this way I was saved from the distress of scepticism. I understood from its truths that the Risale‑i Nur was written for us, the people of this age.
Powerful belief is necessary so that one may acquire the elevated virtues necessary for good conduct and manners, and courtesy. Since the truths of belief are explained by means of extremely powerful proofs and clear examples in the Risale‑i Nur, the more I read it, the stronger my belief became. In this way I was saved from giving up my religion, which is truth and reality and comprises the principles of the highest civilization, and from the calamity of being swallowed by the red monster.
Thus, since the Risale‑i Nur saves its readers from numerous calamities, material and spiritual; makes them more knowledgeable than a university graduate; instils in them love of Islam, country, and nation; and teaches them obedience to Allah the Most High, and to be hardworking and compassionate; no one who realizes its value would give it up, whatever the price. This sincere respect and veneration could be torn out of no one’s heart.
The Risale‑i Nur is described by the prosecution as a harmful work. I protest in the strongest terms at this lack of conscience and lie. And it is claimed that I encourage it. Yes, this is true. The hearts of all the enlightened who heard the other lie were pained, indeed they wept and gnashed their teeth. The twentieth century is a time positivist ideas are dominant. Things for which there are no proof and evidence are not believed in, and we do not believe in them. We want proof that the Risale‑i Nur is harmful.
Another of the aims of our covert enemies who concoct these lies is to destroy the solidarity of those who read the Risale‑i Nur, which is manifested as their embracing each other in exceptional fashion due to the bonds of Islam and for the sake of serving the Qur’an, and expresses only respect, compassion, and affection, and has no other goal in sight. Our enemies should not struggle against us for nothing. I am the most backward, the most ordinary of those who read the Risale‑i Nur, yet I give them this reply:
Even if one of us is in the east, one in the west, one in the south, one in the north, one in the hereafter, and one in this world, we are still together. If the power of all the universe were to amass, it could not separate us from our exalted Master, Said Nursi, or from the Risale‑i Nur, or from one another.
For we serve the Qur’an and we shall serve it. Because we believe in the reality of the hereafter, no force can root out this love and solidarity of ours. All Muslims shall gather together in the abode of eternal happiness.
With your permission, I shall describe an important fact concerning the well‑being of our country and nation: one of the communists’ secret plans is to incite the people against the government.
False information was given the leaders of the government so that Bediuzzaman Said Nursi should be sent to prison and his works be seen as harmful. But no one believed the negative propaganda.
For years the people of this nation have believed so firmly that he is a unique Islamic scholar this age and in every way without peer that no propaganda can destroy their true conviction.
I offer praise and thanks to Allah the Most High that He has favoured me with profiting from the works of a great Master. I am indebted with all my heart and soul to him for being the means of my learning about belief and Islam, and benefiting immeasurably. Since my Master has saved me from the distress I suffered for years as I wrote, and my youth from becoming fodder for communism, and my being condemned to everlasting solitary confinement, I am prepared to languish in this worldly prison for years for him.
If I suffer capital punishment on the way of the Risale‑i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary which in twenty years has taught millions of people religion, belief, Islam, and virtue, preserving them from irreligion, I shall run to the gallows crying: “Allah! Allah! Ya Rasulallah!” If I am executed by firing squad on the way of the Risale‑i Nur, which protects our young people from abandoning their religion and being swept away by communism to eternal perdition, and from crimes for which they would be shot as traitors to their country, without flinching I shall bare my chest to the bullets. And I beseech my Sustainer that if I am cut to pieces by knives for my Master Bediuzzaman, with my blood spurting in all directions I shall write: “The Risale‑i Nur! The /Risale‑i Nur!"
Respected Judges of the Court!
The education the Risale‑i Nur gives is truly marvellous and original; it is without equal. The purpose of other sorts of education is to gain material benefits and to attain various positions. People study mostly for materialist ends and to be able to become famous, or sometimes merely because they have to study. However, those who by reading its treatises, receive the Risale‑i Nur education, which resembles an unorganized free university, nurture no worldly aims, only to serve the Qur’an and belief.
Nevertheless, the Risale‑i Nur, which consists of serious, scholarly treatises about the truths of belief, is read with such enthusiasm, passion, and pleasure, that it awakens in those who read it faithfully the desire to read it over and over again. Even though those who read and write out the Risale‑i Nur may find their lives in danger at the doors of the courtroom, they state openly that they read these wonderful works, and that they shall read them. Even if they know that the decision will be given for their execution, they do not hesitate to display this constancy. This characteristic of the Risale‑i Nur, one of its many wonders, makes one ask: “Did those who admit this, find their lives by the wayside?”
This means that contained in the Risale‑i Nur and Bediuzzaman is a truth so elevated that as well as not being harmful they did not deny it.
Normally students are made to study under the constraints of discipline and authority. However, Bediuzzaman compelled no one to study the Risale‑i Nur, and hundreds of thousands of readers study it devotedly and resolutely, the majority of them without ever seeing him.
Such a wondrous method of education was never seen in any medrese, either recently or previously, and was never encountered in any university.
The prosecutor said: “The respect in which Bediuzzaman is held has not been offered to any other Qur’anic commentator.”
That is correct. Seeing that respect and reverence are awarded in relation to greatness and achievement, and gratitude and thanks are offered to the degree one has profited, Bediuzzaman’s works are profited from to an enormous degree so that respect for him and gratitude to him are unprecedented.
The Masons and communists expended every effort so that Bediuzzaman, the greatest Islamic thinker and writer of the twentieth century, would not be known by us, and especially by the young. But the wide‑awake Turkish Muslim nation and youth recognized that hero of religion, our Master, and they benefited from him and allowed others to do so.
It is because of this that their extraordinary attachment and confidence cannot be shaken.
Since the Qur’anic verses in the Risale‑i Nur are expounded in Turkish with supreme art and skill without anything of their virtues, which are the Qur’an’s greatest miracle, being lost, every class of people – men, women, officials, tradesmen, scholars and philosophers – can read and understand it. Profiting from it to the extent they can, they become ever more attached to it. High school students, university students, professors, lecturers, and philosophers all read it. These educated classes profit from it to an extraordinary degree, affirming its originality and the superior art of its composition, and feeling a strong desire to read the whole work.
When perceptive and appreciative people first come to know Bediuzzaman and the Risale‑i Nur, they are infinitely regretful they did not know of them previously, and in order to make up for lost time, never waste their spare time, and if they have five minutes even, pick up the Risale‑i Nur, and read it day and night. This extraordinary interest and demand has never ever been shown for the work of any psychologist, sociologist, or philosopher. Only the educated can benefit from them. If a middle school student or a housewife reads the work of a eminent philosopher, he or she does not profit from it. But everyone profits from the Risale‑i Nur in accordance with his level. For this reason, the whole nation awaits your decision to acquit Bediuzzaman and the Risale‑i Nur students.
If in this time of tribulation Said Nursi had not impressed on his students the need for patience, endurance, and moderation, as when the commander of a volunteer militia force in the First War he mustered his students to fight, so out of the great honour in which they hold him thousands of Risale‑i Nur students would have pitched their tents on the heights around Afyon and awaited the decision of Afyon Criminal Court to acquit him.
The work that Said Nursi and the Risale‑i Nur students do cannot be considered within the framework of the law and be proved to be a secret society. Why can it not be proved? Is a legal expert who has risen to be chief public prosecutor incapable of proving it according to the law? No, he is certainly not incapable. But there is no organization that could be called a secret political society. That is why it cannot be proved.
It is a contradiction that the statement the prosecutor first gave, which was completely accurate and in accordance with the law, said that “the Risale‑i Nur students are not a political society,” and then a bit later for some reason said that “they are a political society.” Of course the latter is invalid. We are certain that the judges will see this fact clearly and give the decision that “there is no secret society.”
Judges of the Court! If when suffering sorrow and anguish a piece were to be broken off the heart, the news of a youth losing his religion should make the heart break into pieces to the number of its minute particles.
Thus, the acquittal you shall give shall be the cause of the Muslim youth and Islamic world being effectively saved from this terrible plague. This is another of the reasons binding me inseparably to Bediuzzaman and his works.
Your decision to acquit the Risale‑i Nur and give it its freedom will save all the Turkish youth and all Muslims from the tragedy of irreligion. For without any doubt at all, one day the Risale‑i Nur, a treasury of elevated truths, will be known throughout the world.
Then you shall be appreciated by all mankind. Your decision to acquit the Risale‑i Nur will make the present and future generations grateful to you, and the more it is read and benefited from, the more you shall be appreicated.
Beware! Do not suppose these sincere words of mine are hypocritical. Absolutely not! Because I am afraid of no one while Bediuzzaman is being tried, nor do I waver.
Only, with your permission, I want to say this much: if the prosecutor continues to make such despicable charges against the Risale‑i Nur, which is a superlative means of preventing Freemasonry and communism in this blessed country, and against its author and readers, and he does not desist from making those entirely erroneous accusations, and carried away by his feelings, opposes them, he will be supporting communism and Freemasonry, and will be assisting the noxious atheists to multiply, against whom in truth these charges should be made.
Part of Zübeyir’s Supplement for the Appeal Court
Through its proofs the Risale‑i Nur repairs the belief of people which has been destroyed by the doubts and scepticism sown by the publications of secret atheistic organizations.
One of the least tangible reasons for the youth adhering to the Risale‑i Nur as though electrocuted, is this: for years with unparalleled devotion and self‑sacrifice, elderly and ill, at a time demanding extraordinary caution, with superhuman patience Bediuzzaman Said Nursi has endured the various torments of his enemies, the communists, Masons, and those hoodwinked by them. With his truth-seeing, realistic view, he has distinguished numerous treacherous stratagems against religion, and has written works about belief which will bring to nothing their fearsomely cunning, covert plans.
But what a regretable, sad and sorry situation it is, that for twenty‑five years they have tried to eliminate this champion of Islam, this matchless person, in prisons and places of detention, in absolute solitary confinement.
Even if due to animosity resulting from the unfounded suspicions given rise to by the treachery of communists, the Risale‑i Nur’s author has been punished, his works continue to be read with ever increasing interest and enthusiasm.
The first and most powerful evidence is this: the young people who read the work The Staff of Moses (Asâ‑yı Mûsa), which has been duplicated in the new letters, quickly learn the Qur’anic alphabet in order to be able to read the rest of the works. This removes the obstacle of not knowing the Qur’anic script, which prevents a person learning numerous sciences and compels him to read works written specifically to distance him from religion and belief.
Whenever the younger generation has been decked out and fortified with the Qur’an and the sciences that irradiate from it, the nation to which that youth belongs has begun to progress and advance. Here, the youth have begun to fill their spirits, burning with the need for belief and Islam, with the lights of the Risale‑i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary. Thus acquiring certain, realized belief, our young people will struggle against irreligion and communism, and will on no account allow their country to be sold to the enemies of Islam.
If the communists, therefore, find the opportunity to destroy all paper and ink, numerous youths like myself and older people will be ready to sacrifice themselves, and in order to publish the Risale‑i Nur, a treasury of truth, would if it were possible make their skins into paper and blood into ink.
Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times!
In the indictment the prosecutor says: “Said Nursi is poisoning the university students with his works.” In reply we say: “If the Risale‑i Nur is poison, we are in need of tons of it and thousands of kilos. If he knows where it is to be found in abundance, he should send us there speedily by aeroplane!”
When we Risale‑i Nur students suffer the persecution of tyrants for the sake of serving belief and Islam, we prefer to die in the corners of prison or on the gallows to dying on the couch of comfort. We know it to be a supreme divine favour to die as martyrs in the prison into which we have been unjustly cast because of our service to the Qur’an, rather than living in captivity in what is apparently freedom but in reality absolute despotism.
Prisoner, Konyalı Zübeyir GündüzalpAfyon Prison
Note After this defence and its addendum were sent to the Court of Appeal, the court authorities sent a telegraph ordering that Zübeyir be released from prison.