anxiety or excitement, and was relaxed and at ease as though speaking with his friends in his house. He spoke with an Eastern accent.”

• Aksehir Palas and Resadiye Hotels

There are numerous accounts of visits to Bediuzzaman in the Aksehir Palas and Resadiye Hotels from among the many different people who visited him during his brief stay of two to three months. Also there are descriptions by a number of his close students, who remained with him and attended to his needs. One of these is Muhsin Alev, Bediuzzaman's fellow-accused in the trial. He wrote that "when Ustad came to Istanbul, it was as though its entire populace poured into the Aksehir Palas Hotel. Every day hundreds of people visited him. Among them were many well-known people." Muhsin Alev goes on to describe visits by first the famous poet and writer and producer of Büyük Dogu magazine, Necip Fazil Kisakürek, and then, in the Resadiye Hotel, Osman Yüksel Serdengecti, who wrote for and published Serdengecti magazine. In fact, it was articles appearing in these and other publications of the `Islamic' press such as Esref Edip's Sebilürresad that had contributed to informing particularly the young educated classes about Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur, and continued to do so. Muhsin Alev himself had been active in this field. One of the most descriptive of these accounts is by one of three youths, then students at Galatasaray Lycée, who had benefited from these publications. The student in question, Mehmet Sevket Eygi, himself went on to bring out various newspapers and publications in subsequent years. These three friends, who secretly read handwritten duplicated copies of the Risale-i Nur in school, decided to visit him. His description shows the modest conditions Bediuzzaman chose, even when staying in a hotel, together with the interest he showed these boys.
"We entered the small room in which Bediuzzaman was staying on the top floor of the hotel. It had a low ceiling and small windows.