• Bediuzzaman's Trips to Ankara, Istanbul, and Konya

In December,1959, and January,1960, Bediuzzaman embarked on a series of trips to Ankara, Konya, and Istanbul, which in the light of the above descriptions of his health and state of mind show more than anything his extraordinary perseverance and self-sacrifice in continuing his struggle against unbelief and service to belief and the Qur'an through the Risale-i Nur. To visit his students and the `Risale-i Nur study centres' (dershane), which was his immediate reason for the trips, when not only meeting with people and being held in esteem was such torment for him, but also his health was so poor, was truly a feat of endurance which only someone of the will and determination of Bediuzzaman could have achieved.
Bediuzzaman was now receiving repeated and insistent invitations from his students all over Turkey for him to visit them, and his trips were in response to these. At the same time they had the character of farewell visits. Ankara and Istanbul were the main centres of publication, and Konya was both an important centre of activity and where Bediuzzaman's brother, Abdülmecid, now lived, whom he had seen only once in forty years. Bediuzzaman visited Istanbul once during this two months, Konya, three times, and Ankara, four times. His trips to Ankara had a further important purpose; he wanted to warn Menderes and the Democrats of the dangers looming before them and to suggest certain ways of averting them.
The clouds of disaster and revolution were gathering in Turkey. A coup attempt had already been uncovered and forestalled in 1958. Unable to abide the liberalism, religious freedoms, and resurgence of Islam which were the fruits of Democrat rule, supporters of the former regime, now represented by Inönü and the RPP, were preparing to regain power by force. For they could not do so by the vote or legal means. Mentioned above was Bediuzzaman's warning to Menderes in 1952 of "the possible attack" of the two currents within the opposition whose interests were most harmed by Democrat policies. Now the danger was imminent and he was anxious above everything to warn them of this. For it was not only a question of saving the Democrats, it was a question of saving the