time had felt so firm.
Thus, on the one hand, the struggle with irreligion was pursued with greatly increased publication and dissemination of the Risale-i Nur, and in addition, Bediuzzaman followed up the advantage he had gained by the Denizli acquittals, also benefiting from the favourable impressions made in official circles by the copies of the Risale-i Nur sent from Denizli, by sending ‘petitions’ to various high officials and members of the Government informing them of the real nature of this struggle and the vital role the Risale-i Nur had to play in saving the country from the anarchy into which it was being pushed by forces working for the causes of communism, freemasonry and Zionism, and also informing them of the illegal treatment he was suffering at the hands of some officials.

• Arrival in Emirdag
Bediuzzaman arrived in Emirdag on a hot August evening, shortly before sunset. A small group of people were sitting drinking tea in front of the Government Building when a bus arrived in a cloud of dust from the direction of Afyon. Among them was the Government Doctor, who also acted as District Settlement Officer, Dr. Tahir Barçin. He saw the unusual sight of someone wearing turban and gown alight, escorted by two gendarmes. And even stranger, this elderly person in his seventies set about looking for a suitable spot, and on learning the direction of the kible, spread out the prayer-mat he was carrying, and performed the afternoon prayers, something unheard of at that time of religious persecution. It was a happy moment for the doctor, who as a young medrese student in Istanbul in 1922, had seen Bediuzzaman in Fatih Mosque, for he became a close student of Bediuzzaman's in Emirdag, and when posted to Bitlis in eastern Turkey in 1945 for a year, played an important role in introducing the Risale-i Nur to Bediuzzaman's native region, where many people thought he had not survived his exile.

As in each place he was sent, Bediuzzaman attracted students who served him loyally, unhesitatingly sacrificing themselves and their property and position for him and the Risale-i Nur. In Emirdag