he had become his student. Although all Bediuzzaman's students and some of the prisoners worked continuously in those appalling conditions for the cause of religion and the Risale-i Nur, it was really through these two that it was possible for Bediuzzaman to organize it.
Ibrahim Fakazli from Inebolu described how the prisoners started to reform and perform the prayers. It had happened soon after the others had arrived and before they had come. When Bediuzzaman had gone to take ablutions the prisoners had crowded at a window wanting him to speak to them. This happened three times and Bediuzzaman ignored them. Then the third time, he told them: "Go and wash!" So Süleyman Efe gathered together seventy to eighty of the prisoners and asking them, "Which of you is dirty?", harangued them and ordered them to take baths. Then the prisoners again asked Bediuzzaman to speak to them, so this time he told them to perform the prayers. On their saying they did not know how to, he said he would send his students to teach them. In this way the greater part of the prisoners began to give up their former ways and to perform the five daily prayers. Bediuzzaman's students also taught them the basic rules of religion and how to read and recite the Qur’an. Together with the Kastamonu prisoners were a number of well-known hocas from Istanbul, among whom was Gönenli Mehmed Efendi, one of Turkey's best known Qur'an hocas. He also taught the prisoners the Qur'an. One called Mehmed, who had murdered four people , learnt to read the whole Qur'an and memorized the last twenty-two suras thus earning the right to lead the others in prayer. Others were taken away to be hanged while reading the Qur'an or performing the prayers, having been saved from every kind of vice and evil-living. What a lesson for secular and humanist sociologists and reformers.
When the students from Kastamonu and Inebolu arrived at the prison. Sadik Bey immediately established good " who according to Süleyman Efe were all his men. Bold-spirited and generous, he won their respect and soon formed a 'team' to carry out the necessary jobs for continuing the work of the