of the Turks and Islam, atheistic ideas were being propagated among the Deputies and officials, and many were lax in performing their religious duties. He published various works which successfully countered this.
Remaining some eight months in Ankara, Bediuzzaman understood the way the new leaders were going to take, and that on the one hand he could not work alongside them, and on the other they were not to be combated in the realm of politics. So when offered various posts and benefits, he declined them and left Ankara for Van, where he withdrew into a life of worship and contemplation; he was seeking the best way to proceed.
Within a short time, Bediuzzaman’s fears about the new regime began to be realized: the first steps were taken towards secularization and reducing the power of Islam within the state, and even its eradication from Turkish life. In early 1925 there was a rebellion in the east in which Bediuzzaman played no part, but as a consequence of which was sent into exile in western Anatolia along with many hundreds of others. Thus unjustly began twenty-five years of exile, imprisonment, and unlawful oppression for Bediuzzaman. He was sent to Barla, a tiny village in the mountains of Isparta Province. However, the attempt to entirely isolate and silence him had the reverse effect, for Bediuzzaman was both prepared and uniquely qualified to face the new challenge: these years saw the writing of the Risale-i Nur, which silently spread and took root, combating in the most constructive way the attempt to uproot Islam, and the unbelief and materialist philosophy it was hoped to instil in the Muslim people of Turkey.
Thus, it may be seen from this that the Risale-i Nur was written to expound and explain the truths of the Qur’an and belief to modern man, bewildered as he is by the assaults of materialist philosophy, so that he may attain true and certain belief which will not be shaken by those assaults. In explaining these truths, the Risale-i Nur demonstrates the Qur’an’s superiority in every respect, and, although “in order not to cause aversion” philosophy’s ideas are rarely openly stated, is in one respect a refutation of materialist Western philosophy. It should be stated here that Bediuzzaman was not anti-Western as such, -- indeed, he differentiated between harmful and beneficial philosophy, and hoped for the salvation of all mankind -- but was uncompromising against the unbelief and atheism which is opposed to religion; in recent times the weapon of this has mostly been materialist philosophies such as Positivism and Naturalism, which use science to justify their ideas.
As the New Said, Bediuzzaman had immersed himself in the Qur’an, searching for a way to relate its truths to modern man. In Barla in his isolation he began to write treatises explaining and proving these truths, for now the Qur’an itself and its truths were under direct attack. The first of these was on the Resurrection of the Dead, which in a unique style, proves bodily Resurrection rationally, where even the greatest scholars previously had confessed their impotence. He described the method employed in this as consisting of three stages: first God’s existence is proved, and His Names and attributes, then the Resurrection of the Dead is “constructed” on these and proved. Bediuzzaman did not ascribe