from being `single-faculty' institutions into being `multi-faculty' and putting into practice `the rule of division of labour' was in accordance with wisdom and the laws of creation. The failure to practise it in previous centuries had led to despotism and the exploitation of learning in the medreses, and The teaching being undertaken by those not qualified to do so. It had headed the medreses towards their destruction.

In many places, Bediuzzaman stresses the need for students to specialize in one subject for which they have an aptitude, and in addition only study subjects which complement it. Since it is described in some detail in his `Conversation with the Doctor', together with the need for creative study, debate, and a return to the study of the essential religious sciences by the students, we shall leave the description to there. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that specialization in particular represented a radical break with traditional methods.

 

Finally, a further point which could be thought of as radical was Bediuzzaman's view that "public opinion" should prevail among both the ulema and the students. That is to say, he believed that it was "scholastic despotism", an offspring of political despotism, "which has opened the way to blind imitation (taklid) and barred the way to searching for the truth." For the problems of the modern age to be grappled with and progress to be secured. "constitutionalism among the ulema" should be established "in the ulema state." In the same way, among the students, "public opinion" or the prevalent ideas emerging from debate and the exchange of ideas between students of varying disciplines should be taken as master. Bediuzzaman predicted that this would provide a strong stimulation and incentive for progress. Thus, "Just as public opinion predominates in the state, so too should the prevailing opinions of the ulema be müfti, and the prevailing opinions of the students be master and teacher."

Thus, during his audience, having given Sultan Abdulhamid first-hand information about the state of the Eastern Provinces and