[A situation worthy of congratulation should not be objected to.]
One of the numerous meaningless questions they asked me this time in court, was: “How do you live?” I replied: “Through the plenty resulting from frugality. A person who one Ramadan in Isparta lived on one loaf of bread, a one-kilo bag of yoghurt, and one kilo of rice would not stoop to embracing the world for his livelihood and would not be obliged to accept gifts.”
* * *
[As with the defence Zübeyir1 read in court, his brilliant eulogy drove them to appreciate it, God willing, for amazed, they included it in the judgement.]
In a section with the heading: “Our young people want to be taught truth and realitiy, and to have the highest morality,” on page thirteen, Zübeyir Gündüzalp wrote by typewriter: “The Risale-i Nur is a masterpiece written not through the author’s will, but inspired by the Creator, in order to save the Muslims of the 20th century and all humanity from the dark, oppressive ideas.”
On page twelve: “If it was said to a person serving the Risale-i Nur: ‘Copy out these books instead of the Risale-i Nur, and I’ll give all the wealth of Ford,’ he would reply, without even raising the nib of his pen: ‘If you gave me all the world’s wealth and its sovereignty too, I would not accept it.’”
On page fifteen: “If we are attached to honest writers a hundred times over, our attachment to a great person like Bediuzzaman who guides us in this world and the next, is immeasurable, total.”
On page twelve: “The collective personality of the Risale-i Nur has diagnosed the social, spiritual, and religious sicknesses of this age, and at a Divine command has offered to all humanity at this time the All-Wise Qur’an’s truths in a way that will cure its chronic social ills.”
On page forty-four: “Bediuzzaman said that someone who studies these treatises for a year may become an important scholar. Yes, that is how it is.”
On page fifty-four: “The judges who study the Risale-i Nur do not make incorrect judgements.”
Zübeyir Gündüzalp (1920-1971) was born in Konya Province, and became a student of Bediuzzaman while working as a telegraphist for the Post Office. He later became one of his closest students, displaying complete devotion to Bediuzzaman and sincerity in his service of the Risale-i Nur. He became one of the leading figures of the movement after Bediuzzaman’s death. [Tr.]