about me, who introduced me as his school friend. He asked my name and was very kind. He spoke to us about Islam, the beauty of belief in God, death, and the hereafter. We sat for a while and then we left.
"One day when I went to visit him, I saw Ustad to be very profound and humble. Because of this humility of his, I wondered if he knew anything. Because he always came down to our level and spoke of things that we knew. I even asked Mehmet Feyzi Efendi one day if he knew Arabic. Of course Feyzi Efendi just laughed.
"Ustad's modesty and humility, and affection and interest in us bound us to him. From time to time I would take other friends to him. He always gave excellent answers to the questions we asked him. I only lost the negative ideas about religion I had acquired from some of the teachers at school when I visited Ustad.
"Another time I visited him, I asked: `Our teachers don't speak about God. Tell us about our Creator.' Ustad explained at great length about this subject. I can't exactly remember when the answer to our question was written down. When we went to him, Mehmed Feyzi Pamukçu used to read from The Supreme Sign or the Short Words and we would write them down in our notebooks in the new letters...
"One day at school, it was the geography lesson and the teacher asked the class: `Who's been to that reactionary hoca they call Bediuzzaman?' Six people raised their hands. He asked why we had gone, and said that Ustad was an enemy of the reforms and didn't like Ataturk. He sent us to the Disciplinary Council. They asked various questions. As a result, a friend called Suat and myself were banned from school for six days, and the others were given warnings. We said in the statements we gave that we had gone because we wanted to learn about our religion, no one had said anything against anyone, and that we were religious and liked performing our worship. A few days later the police raided the house where I stayed and went through it with a tooth-comb. My statement was taken by the police. I described what had happened to me. The Prosecutor asked: `There's the Mufti and lots of hocas. Why don't you go to them?' I said I didn't know the Mufti....
"I had first gone to Ustad because of this: he did not accept presents from anyone!