of Islam, calamities both material and nonmaterial will break over men’s heads and they will surrender to anarchy and lawlessness.

The Old Said related the above story to some religious deputies of that time, and it was included fortyfive years ago in the Addendum to the Damascus Sermon.

Now, since the story and previous comparison are instruction relevant to the present time rather than that time, we offer it to the deputies who sincerely support religion so they may take note of it.(20)

S a i d N u r s i

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(20) Because we do not know Arabic, we requested of Ustad that he should teach us concerning his Arabic treatise which was published under the title of The Damascus Sermon (Hutbe-i Şamiye). He did so for several days and we wrote down what he said. He used to repeat some of the things he taught so that they would stick in our minds. We found the story and comparison at the end useful in explaining the question. And the reason we have offered them first of all for the attention of members of universities and deputies who support religion is because when Ustad [Bediuzzaman Said Nursi] began to explain this subject, he said: "I put you in the place of the two teachers from the modern schools in the railway train, and the sincerely religious deputies of the present time in the place of the deputies of fortyfive years ago who asked the question about the Shari’a." If they wish we can show them all our notes about the Damascus Sermon, and if needed, we can publish them.
We wanted Ustad to teach us about the politics of the Islamic world. But since he had given up politics thirtyfive years previously, he explained to us instead this translation of the Damascus Sermon of the Old Said, which touches on Islamic politics. It is a lesson on account of the Old Said.
Signed: His students, Tahiri, Zübeyr, Bayram, Ceylan, Sungur, Abdullah, Ziya, Sadık, Hüsnü, Ham