beat for mankind’s happiness and he bore the trust of delivering the message.

Having spoken out freely, we shall be proud to face our conviction. With the cry of For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs, we open our hands to the Court of the Dispenser of Needs.

Prisoner, Ortaklar Bucagili Ahmed Feyzi Kul

Afyon Prison.

***

[Ceylan’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

Making a mountain out of a molehill, because of my service to my Master and the Risale-i Nur, of which I am proud, the prosecution portrays me as a prominent diplomat or cunning plotter. In reply to his apportioning me a large share of the imaginary crime with which the Risale-i Nur is charged, I say this: I am closely attached to my Master, Bediuzzaman, from whom, by reading his works on religion, belief, and morality, I have profited to such an extent that I would readily sacrifice my life for his sake. However, my attachment is not as the prosecution said, harmful for the country and nation, in order to incite the people against the state; it is rather an unseverable attachment on the way of saving myself from the eternal annihilation of the grave, from which no one can escape, and saving the belief of my brothers in religion, which, like me, they are in need of saving in these perilous times, correcting their conduct, and becoming useful members of the nation and country.

I am one of those close to him. From time to time for four years I have proudly attended on him. During this time, I have witnessed nothing other than total virtue. I have not once heard him say a single word about his being the Mahdi or the Regenerator of Religion. More than a hundred thousand copies of the Risale-i Nur and hundreds of thousands of pure intentioned Risale-i Nur students, who have saved their belief by reading its treatises, can testify that he is the very epitome of humility.