Biography of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi | PART ONE - The Old Said | 96
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threatened by a man with a revolver. But when the muttering developed into shouting and stamping, his opponents had their way and he was unable to continue. He withdraw into the wings, and the curtain was lowered. But the hubbub did not abate. On the contrary, the audience, now divided into two camps, started pushing and shoving and flinging insults and abuse at each other. No one attempted to leave, and no one attempted to intervene.
Suddenly, someone sprang nimbly onto his seat and shouted above the din: "O you Muslims one and all!" It was Bediuzzaman. Having commanded the attention of the whole audience, he pointed out that freedom of speech had to be respected, it was shameful for members of a nation that had just proclaimed Freedom and constitutionalism to exceed the bounds of good behavior and prevent a speaker from lecturing in this way. The religion of Islam also commanded that ideas be respected. He supported what he said with verses from the Qur'an and Hadiths, gave examples from Islamic history, and told them of how the Prophet Muhammed used to consult the ideas of others and related his teachings and words, then advised them all to disperse quietly and go on their way.
Bediuzzaman spoke so well and convincingly that no one objected. Even the roughs and rowdies who a few minutes earlier had been hurling invective and abuse said nothing. Everyone left the theater thoroughly subdued and contrite.
The writer of the work from which the description of The above event is taken, Münir Suleyman Capanoglu, had further memories from that time, which he told Necmeddin ,sahiner in an interview in 1972. He said:
"... Certainly, he [Bediuzzaman] was someone who knew his theories well and could defend them well. He began way back at that time, he began in the Constitutional Period. He went at the same tempo, at the same speed, in the same direction, and defended the same idcas.., They were frightened of him at that time the same as in this period, because whenever he came out onto the street, he was immediately surrounded by a crowd."

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