it would make us declare: “Thanks be to You, O God! This Divine Decree and Determining are an instance of Your grace for us.”

Do not blame those who were the cause of this affair. The far-reaching and fearful plans for this calamity had long since been laid, and in the event we have got off lightly. God willing, it will pass quickly. In accordance with the meaning of the verse, It may be that you hate a thing, and it is good for you,3 do not be grieved.

S a i d N u r s i

* * *

My Dear Brothers!

I am very happy to be close to you. From time to time I converse with you in imagination and am consoled. Know that if it had been possible, I would proudly and happily have endured all your difficulties. Because of you, I love Isparta and its environs down to its very stones and soil. I declare even, and I shall say so officially, if the Isparta authorities were to inflict some penalty on me and another province was to acquit me, I would still choose here.

Yes, I am from Isparta in three respects. I cannot prove it genealogically, but I have the conviction that the forebears of Said, who came into the world in the sub-district of Isparit, went there from here. And the province of Isparta has given me such true brothers that I would be happy to sacrifice not Abdülmecid4 and Abdurrahman,5 but Said [myself] for each one of them.

It is my guess that there is no one on earth at this time who