court is still holding and which consist of the truths of belief and the Qur’an. Moreover, just as I and my friends confirm the sacred service he has performed for this country and nation, so did the patriots in the Union and Progress government confirm it. For at that time, they gave nineteen thousand gold liras for his university in Van, called the Medresetü’z-Zehra. The lovers of their country admiringly confirmed his patriotic, scholarly endeavours. Then one hundred and sixty-three deputies out of two hundred allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras, when funds were very scarce, for that university of his in the east.

Throughout his life, my sacred, blessed Master, whom the prosecution has designated a criminal, has compelled even his most obdurate and jealous enemies to submit and those who have sought his conviction in the courts, not permitting them to combat his vehement, sharp words. I inform your high court that I am proud of the service I have performed for the Risale-i Nur this last twenty years, working as a scribe in his sacred service and all his learned activities, the aim of which is to secure the foundation stones of this country’s happiness and prosperity.

Prisoner, Husrev Altinbasak

***

[Tahiri’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

As has been communicated to me by the office of the Afyon state prosecutor, I have been sent to trial together with my Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, and his other companions in connection with the matter of inciting the people to breach state security by exploiting religious feelings.

I gave correct answers to the questions asked of me both in Isparta Magistrates’ Court, and in the office of the Afyon examining magistrate. Denizli Court, which acquitted us, returned all our books to us, and did not convict us for reading and writing out the treatises of my Master, Bediuzzaman, or for corresponding with our brothers who are his students. However, six years ago, without my Master’s permission, on my own initiative I had printed in Istanbul five