Said's period of study in the Bayezit Medrese under Seyh Mehmed Celali lasted only three months, but it was to provide him with the foundations of or key to the religious sciences on which his later thought and works would be based. Also, it was once again to show what he had instinctively displayed from the very beginning of his studies, namely, his dissatisfaction with the existing education system and his awareness of the urgent need for its reform. Moreover, the astonishing number of works that Said read, memorized and digested in this short period of time was to demonstrate his remarkable power of memory, and exceptional intelligence and understanding, both of which were developed to a degree far exceeding the average for boys of his age. He was fourteen years old.

During his time in Bayezid, Said completed the entire course of study then current in medreses. The works studied were heavily annotated, with commentaries, commentaries on commentaries, and even commentaries on those commentaries and further expositions, so that to complete the course under normal conditions took the average student fifteen to twenty years. The method was to completely master one book and one subjeet before passing onto the next.

Said began from `Molla Cami',¹ and completed all the works in the course in turn. This he did by ignoring all the commentaries and expositions, and by concentrating on only a certain number of sections in each work. On being asked by a displeased Seyh Mehmed Celali why he was studying in this way, Said answered thus:

"I am not able to read and understand this many books. But these books are caskets of jewels, treasure chests, and the key is with you. I only implore you to show me what is in them so I can understand what these books are discussing, and then I shall study those that are suitable for me."

Said's aim in replying thus was to point out the need for reform in medrese education and to prevent time being wasted through the inclusion of so many commentaries, annotations and expositions. And in answer to his master's question: "Which subject, which of the sciences studied is suitable for you?", Said replied:

"I cannot distinguish these sciences one from the other. I either know all of them or none of them."

Whichever of the books Said studied, he would understand it without seeking the assistance of anyone else. He was able to study and master the most difficult works of two hundred pages or more, like Cem'u'1-Cevami’, Serhu'l-Mevakif, and ibnu' 1-Hacer in twenty-four hours. He gave himself over to studying to such a degree that all his ties with the outside world were cut. On whichever subject he was questioned, he would give the answer correctly and without hesitation.²

While in Beyazid, Said passed much of his time, and even the nights, in the mausoleum of the Kurdish saint and literary figure Ahmed Hani, so that the people said he was specially privileged with Ahmed Hani's spiritual radiance. One night Said's friends from the medrese missed him and started searching for him. Finally they looked in the mausoleum and found him there studying by the light of a candle. But he rebuked them saying: "Why are you disturbing me in this way?"³ On the one hand Said thus plunged himself into studying, while on the other he started to follow the way of the Illuminist (israkiyyun) philosophers and to practise extreme self-discipline and asceticism. The Illuminists had accustomed their bodies to such practices gradually, but Said ignored the necessary period of adjustment and suddenly undertook the most rigorous ascetic exercises. His body could not support it and he grew progressively weaker. He would make one piece of bread last three days, trying to emulate the Illuminists in their practice of the theory `asceticism serves to expand the mind'.

Not being content with this, he followed Imam Gazzali's Sufistic interpretation of the Hadith, `Give up what you are doubtful about for that about which you have no doubts' from Ihya 'Ulumi'd-Din, and for a time gave up eating bread, even, and existed on grasses and plants. Furthermore, he rarely spoke.⁴

At the end of three months, Said obtained his diploma from Seyh Mehmed Celali, the Principal of the Beyazid Medrese, and was then known as Molla Said. Having received it, he donned the simple garb of a dervish and set out for Baghdad, intending to visit its famous religious scholars and the tomb of Seyh Abdulkadir Geylani. Avoiding roads, travelling at night over mountain and through forest, he came after some time to Bitlis. There, for two days he attended the lectures of Seyh Mehmed Emin Efendi. The Seyh proposed that he wear the dress of a scholar. In eastern Anatolia at that time the turban and scholar's robe were not worn by students, but only presented when the diploma (icazet) was obtained. The scholar's dress was the right only of teachers (muderris). But Molla Said did not accept the Seyh's proposal, answering that since he was not yet mature, he did not think it was fitting for him to wear the dress of a respected teacher. How could he be a teacher while still a child? And he put the gown and turban away in a corner of the mosque.⁵