leaders and representative institutions, yet the Islamic world is still seeking to restore its representative of an order which had lasted for 1300 years, and it feels the pain of this void deeply. I would like to mention the explanation that Imam Bediuzzaman made about the tragic end that the Ottomans experienced, because of its importance: In a veracious dream that came to me during the fifth year of the First World War, the following question was put to me: "What is the reason for this hunger, financial loss, and physical trial that now afflicts the Muslims'?" I replied in the dream: "From the wealth He bestows upon us, Allah Almighty required from us either a tenth or a fortieth so that we may benefit from the grateful prayers of the poor, and so that rancour and envy may be prevented. But in our greed and covetousness we refused to give zakat, and Allah Almighty has taken from us a thirtieth where a fortieth was owed, and an eighth where a tenth was owed. "He required of us to undergo, for no more than one month each year, a hunger with seventy beneficial purposes. But we took pity on our instinctual souls, and did not undergo that temporary pleasurable hunger. Allah Almighty then punished us by compelling us to fast for five years, with a hunger replete with seventy kinds of misfortune. "He also required of us, out of each period of twenty-four hours, one hour to be spent in