forced to sell his quilt to pay the rent.
Bediuzzaman also concerned himself with others in difficulties, and so also there were many drunkards and those who had fallen foul of the law that he saved. An example of the first of these was a family who had been sent into exile from eastern Anatolia after one of the disturbances, one member of which was a thirteen-year-old boy who used to run errands for Bediuzzaman. Necmeddin Sahiner has recorded his account of those days. Since he was a child, he could come and go unquestioned, and relates how besides performing such vital jobs as sending Bediuzzaman's letters, he would also "prepare the ground" for people wanting to visit Bediuzzaman by conducting them on roundabout routes to avoid being spotted from the police-station opposite Bediuzzaman's house. He also mentions that on Bediuzzaman's recommendation his family were able to move to a house which Bediuzzaman had originally been going to live in, but had not been able to because it was in a quiet and secluded spot. The house was still empty and they lived there for nine years without paying any rent. Bediuzzaman helped out this family in numerous ways. On one occasion an unjust complaint was lodged against them by a neighbour, a retired police superintendent called Süleyman. Complete strangers in the town, they were understandably very perturbed. The boy, Nadir, ran to Bediuzzaman to explain, and he sorted out the matter in no time. Since it illustrates the authority Bediuzzaman wielded, despite his position, as well as his concern for the downtrodden, a few lines are quoted in full:
". When I got there, Ustad met me at the door. On my explaining the situation to him, he said to me: `I understood that you were upset. Go and tell the headman of the quarter, Çarikçi Ihsan Efendi, to come here.' I went and told him and he said he would go immediately with pleasure. He went at once. Ustad told him: `Go and tell Süleyman not to bother these people!' So Ihsan Efendi went to Süleyman and repeated this. And from there he came to us and consoled us, saying: `Relax! No one is going to bother you. If you have any difficulties, I'm here!' And so the matter was solved."
Well-known in Kastamonu was the story of how Bediuzzaman