• "Signs of Miraculousness"

The book Mustafa Yalcin describes Bediuzzaman as writing here was his commentary on the Qur'an, Signs of Miraculousness (Isaratu’I-I’caz fi Mazanni’I-Icaz), and it was Molla Habib who used to act as his scribe. Written on horseback, in the trenches, and in the skirmishing lines, this Arabic commentary, only the first section of which was completed, was later acclaimed by the ulema in Damascus and Baghdad, while Ali Riza Efendi, the head of the office for issuing fetvas in Istanbul [fetva emini], described it as: "As powerful and valuable as a thousand other commentaries."' In the work, Bediuzzaman described its purpose as follows:

"Our aim from this work entitled Signs of Miraculousness is to explain the indications and signs of the miraculousness present in the Qur'an's word order. For it is in its word order that an important aspect of its miraculousness is manifested. And it is of the embroideries of its word order that its most brilliant miraculousness consists."

In addition, in the Preface, setting out the method by which Qur'anic commentaries should be written in the modem age, Bediuzzaman explains further his purpose in writing it.He first explains the nature of the Qur’an as Divine speech addressing all men in every age, then points out that it also encompasses the sciences which make known the physical world. Indeed, the Qur'an's truths become manifest through the discoveries of science. Thus, in the modern age when the cosmos is being opened up and its workings are being revealed by science, commentaries on the Qur'an must keep pace with these giant strides science is taking. Bediuzzaman points out that it is beyond the capacity of an individual or even a small group to be familiar with all the sciences, and a commentary should therefore be written by a committee of scholars who are specialists in a number of sciences, both religious and modern. It will be recalled that among Bediuzzaman's proposals for educational reform were the `combining' and joint teaching of the religious and modem sciences, specialization, and the application