A further incident is recorded which occurred in the years following Bediuzzaman's return to Van. Bediuzzaman wrote:

"My old students who are still living know that...[we were in] the citadel of Van which is simply a great monolith the size of a mountain and the height of two minarets, we were going to a secret door which was like a chamber dating from ancient times. The shoes slid from my feet and my two feet slipped suddenly. The danger [of falling] was one hundred per cent. Although there was nothing on which to support myself, I was hurled in a three meter arc to the door of the cave as though I had been standing on something broad. Both myself and my friends who were there with me considered that it was only due to Divine protection and some miraculous unseen assistance that my time had not come."

Bediuzzaman read the newspapers regularly while in Van, particularly the articles concerning Islam and the Islamic world. One day, Tahir Pasa pointed out an item that evoked an over-powering response in him. It was the report of a speech made in the British House of Commons by Gladstone, the Secretary for the Colonics. Bediuzzaman described it as follows:

"Round about the year 1316, the author of the Risale-i Nur underwent a radical change in regard to his ideas. It was as follows:

"Up to that time, he had only been interested in, and had studied and taught, the various sciences; it was only through theoretical knowledge that he had sought enlightenment. Then at that date. he suddenly learnt through the late Governor, Tahir Pasa, of Europe's dire and evil intentions towards the Qur'an. He heard that a British Secretary for the Colonies had even said in a newspaper:

"`So long as the Muslims have the Qur'an, we shall be unable to dominate them. We must either take it from them, or make them lose their love of it.'

"He was filled with zeal. Heeding the decree of, So turn away