[Mustafa Osman’s Defence]

To Afyon Criminal Court

I say in reply to the matters which have been put forward as offences, that I took part in the imaginary activities against the regime reputedly perpetrated by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who is accused of founding a secret society and by exploiting religious feelings, of being engaged in activities that might breach state security:

1. Yes, like many Risale-i Nur students, I began to collect the treatises of the Risale-i Nur and to read them with the intention of receiving a civilized, religious education and learning Qur’anic conduct, which is a national characteristic and is worthy of true Turkism and Islam, and an historical honour and virtue of ours. I intended to become a useful member of the country and nation, and defend it against the effects of foreign ideologies.

How could it be considered an offence at a time vice and immorality have trampled the honour and mode of action of our forefathers, which found fame in history, and poisoned the life of society, and have spilled into the streets to the extent of disgusting even the immoral, alarming public opinion, so that it is gossiped about in every home, and this grievous situation, which gives rise to criticism in the form of news about the moral police and of various other subjects in the newspapers and magazines, which are the tongue of public opinion, is rapidly spreading and quite simply becoming general — to read the Risale-i Nur Collection at such a time, which saved me as it saves all Muslims who read it; and to give it to my compatriots when they insistently asked for it, who knew and heard that I read these works, so that it could rectify their morals too; and so to save through the Risale-i Nur and its effective teachings these people who had lost their moorings and were becoming harmful for the country and nation; and to give it to them