CHAPTER SEVEN

WAR AND CAPTIVITY

• Bediuzzaman and The War

For Bediuzzaman, the War may be seen as a watershed. On his return from North Africa, he visited Enver Pasa, the Minister of War, to discuss his intention of returning to the Eastern Provinces to participate in the defense against the invading Russians, and was appointed by the Pasa to raise and command a volunteer militia force. This Bediuzzaman then did, making his own students the centre of the force. It was a Holy War, and Bediuzzaman performed this bounden duty of Muslims on two fronts. In addition to raising the militia, training it to the very highest standards, and personally leading his men in the most bold and courageous actions, he continued to teach his students and himself write his celebrated commentary on the Qur'an. Wielding both sword and pen, he was like a figure from the golden age of Islam, a model Muslim. When Bitlis fell to the Russians in early March 1916, Bediuzzaman was captured and spent the next two years in various prisoner-of-war camps in Kosturma in Russia. He escaped, and traveling across Russia safely, came to Warsaw and Berlin, and arrived back in Istanbul in June 1918. But the rigours of his captivity had taken their toll on his health, and his outlook, too, had changed. The dreadful period of defeat and foreign occupation following the War was one of inner turmoil for Bediuzzaman, despite his worldly position and success, but from it the New Said was to emerge.

• Events on the Eastern Front

The first shots of the War had been fired when Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia on 31 October 1914. On this occasion, Russia was not successful, and the invasion was repulsed by the Ottoman army under Enver Pasa. But he was only successful in this after