Pakistan. Also some of Bediuzzaman's students travelled to foreign countries for the purpose of making known the Risale-i Nur and establishing relations, for example, to the Hicaz Syria, and Iran. In 1954 Bediuzzaman sent his close student Muhsin Alev to Germany, to have printed there the `miraculous' Qur'an, since repeated attempts to have it printed in Turkey had come to nothing. He remained in Berlin, actively serving the cause of the Risale-i Nur. Bediuzzaman previously had sent to Germany the collection, Zülfikar, and other parts of the Risale-i Nur, which met with a good reception . Bediuzzaman also received visits from religious scholars and figures from the Islamic world. Links were reforged as one of his ultimate aims began to be realized: the renewal and strengthening of relations between Muslims in Turkey and in other parts of the world by means of the Risale-i Nur. In fact it was Selahaddin Celebi from Inebolu who, with Bediuzzaman's permission, in 1950 sent Zülfikar to the Imam of Berlin Mosque. He also sent copies to el-Ezher in Egypt, the Pakistani ambassador, and to the Pope in Rome. In response to this last, Bediuzzaman received a letter of thanks from the Vatican dated 22 February ,1951. As has been pointed out previously, although Bediuzzaman always upheld and struggled for the independence of the Islamic world against the West and the maintenance of its cultural integrity, he foresaw the co-operation of Islam and sincere Christians in the face of aggressive atheism. It is in this light also that Bediuzzaman's visit to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Istanbul, Patriarch Athenagoras, should be seen, which he made during his visit to Istanbul in the spring and summer of 1953.