Ustad was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and was wearing something like a scarf of coloured material as a turban. There was a small radio made of baccalite on a shelf on the wall. There weren't any other things. We sat on the floor.
"Ustad spoke 'Turkish with an Eastern accent... He was pleased we were Galatasaray students, and spoke to us giving us advice. He dwelt particularly on the dangers of bolshevism. Communism was not all that widespread in Turkey at that time.... and it was truly great far-sightedness his perceiving that it would be such a problem for Turkey in the future...."
Just as visits such as this led directly to increased coverage and support of Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur movement in the `Islamic' press, so too at this time Bediuzzaman's Istanbul visit afforded the opportunity for a number of young Risale-i Nur Students to visit Bediuzzaman for the first time who subsequently became close students of his and among the most active members of the Risale-i Nur movement.
In his account, Muhsin Alev also describes Bediuzzaman's trips around the city of Istanbul visiting places he had frequented in earlier days, such as the old War Ministry which now houses Istanbul University, where he faced the wrathful pasas in the Court Martial set up after the 3l st March Incident in 1909. Another student who went to visit Bediuzzaman in the Resadiye Hotel describes the sprightly way Bediuzzaman walked, stepping lightly up onto the pavement opposite the hotel "like a youth of twenty", and how , when he emerged from the great Fatih Mosque after attending the prayers, he was mobbed by such a large and enthusiastic crowd, all wanting to kiss his hand, that he could only be saved by jumping into a taxi.
Nevertheless, as ever, Bediuzzaman's enemies were not idle and a further attempt to poison him was made while staying at the Aksehir Palas Hotel in Sirkeci. The incident was described by Ibrahim Fakazli, one of Bediuzzaman's students from Inebolu, who had taken over the night in question from Muhsin, Zübeyir, and