Page 165 - Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar

ing gained him quick acceptance among Istanbul's scholarly circles,
and he began to publish articles in newspapers and magazines and
support the government in arguments about freedom and constitu-
tional monarchy.
The government was not interested in his request regarding the
university. Moreover, it was uneasy about the interest some scholars,
students, university teachers, and politicians showed in him and man-
aged to send him first to a mental hospital and then to prison. Shortly
after he was released, on July 23, 1908, the second constitution was an-
nounced. In Istanbul, he gave speeches on how the concepts of free-
dom and constitutional monarchy did not contradict Islam, and also
sent signed telegraphs to the tribal leaders in eastern Anatolia. But
even though his speeches and articles had a calming effect, he was ar-
rested in 1909 on false charges on 31 March incident, but was later re-
leased.
After this incident, he returned to eastern Anatolia region of

Turkey. When World War I broke out, he and his students fought in a
territorial militia that he had founded. He served as a volunteer regi-
mental commander and was captured in Russia. After three years in a
Siberian prison camp, he escaped and returned to Istanbul.
Many of Istanbul's high state officials and scholarly circles were
interested in him, and eventually he was made a member of the Islamic
Academy. He used his salary to publish and distribute his own books
for free. During the occupation of Istanbul, Said Nursi, who defended
and supported the national struggle, revealed these forces' true inten-
tions in a brochure entitled Hutuwat-al Sitte (The Six Steps of Satan). As
a result, the commander of the British occupying forces ordered that he
be found and brought back dead or alive. However, his activities
pleased the National Assembly founded in Anatolia, and he was in-

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