constant provocation and harassment of him and his students. Bediuzzaman answered these suspicions of the politicians and the authorities in several letters, stating clearly that he was compelled to explain the matter to them "in the tongue the Old Said not that of the New Said", in order to save not himself, but his friends and the Risale-i Nur from “the unfounded suspicions and torments of the worldly:” In the Sixteenth Letter, Bediuzzaman made clear his attitude towards politics like this:
"The New Said flees from politics so vehemently in order not to sacrifice for one or two years of dubious worldly life..., his working for and gaining etemal life, which lasts millions of years, and so also to serve belief and the Qur’an , which is the most important and necessary, the most sincere and loyal duty. For he says, I am getting old, I don't know how much longer I shall live. For me the most important matter, therefore, has to be working for eternal life. And the first means of gaining etemal life and the key to eternal happiness is belief in God, so one has to strive for them. But because I am bound by the Seriat to be beneficial to others in regard to learning , I want to perform that duty. Therefore, I gave up the other way and chose the way of serving belief, which is the most important, the most necessary, and the soundest....
"But if you ask: `Why does service to the Qur'an and belief bar you [from politics]?', I would reply: Since the truths of belief and the Qur'an are each like diamonds, if I was polluted by politics, the ordinary people, who can be deceived, might wonder: `Isn't he making political propaganda in order to win supporters?', and they might look at those diamonds as though they were common glass. Then I would be wronging those diamonds by being in contact with politics, and would be as though reducing their value...."
A passage in the Thirteenth Letter enlarges on this, pointing out that politics were not the way to bring the guidance of the Qur'an to the majority of people at that time, in fact, they formed an obstacle. It shows Bediuzzaman's acute awareness of the state of Turkish society and its needs. In the face of the misguidance which