Hüseyin Velioğlu, the founding guide of the Jemaah of Hizbullah, was martyred on January 17, 2000, as a result of the raid on the house he was living in Istanbul's Beykoz.

Velioğlu, who devoted his life to the Islamic cause and worked for the cause for days and nights, is being commemorated with merciful and thankful in the 18th year of his martyrdom.

Stating that Hüseyin Velioğlu had great responsibilities for the sake of Islam, his close friends drew attention to his efforts to unite the Ummah.

Mustafa Durgun, a well-known scholar and opinion leaders in Turkiye's East region, also a close and cause friend of Velioğlu, said that the martyr Velioğlu was a distinguished person who did not patronize the world commodity and capital.

"Martyr Velioğlu graduated of the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University but he did not take an official duty because he gave himself to the divine cause. The guide Hüseyin believed that humankind could be saved only by living according to Islam and he would move in that direction. He would visit people in this direction. There were people who have supported him and not supported him. All his effort is to live Islam as a living system and make it be lived. All his concern was this," said Mustafa Durgun.

Durgun reminded that there were quite big troubles in the past, despite all these difficulties, Hüseyin Velioğlu visited scholars and opinion leaders, took their views and made attempts to get together.

"After we saw him, we gave him heart, we found what we were looking for"

Emphasizing that Martyr Velioğlu has accomplished great things with scarce possibilities, Durgun said:

"If he was alive today, he would do great things that now come to minds. I have an Islamic sensitivity since the past. I have met with Hüseyin Velioğlu in the 1980s. After we saw him, we gave him a heart. We found what we were looking for. I had a shepherd friend and I took him to the bookshop to meet him with the martyr. There were nice faces around the bookshop. The martyr ended up a conversation with my shepherd friend. After the conversation, my shepherd friend has gone. After a while, he asked me where my shepherd friend is. I told him that he is grazing sheep no Palandöken Mountain in Erzurum. He then asked me to go to Erzurum and visit him. Martyr Guide was like that. He would never give up even on a shepherd if the shepherd was going to serve for the Islam. We owned a cause thanks to him."

"I hope that the successors of Hüseyin Velioğlu will be instrumental in unifying the Islamic Ummah"

"The guide Velioğlu benefited from all scholars and works," said Durgun and added: "He used to love Hassan al-Banna, Abdullah Azzam, Bediuzzaman, Ayatollah Khomeini, and others. Reading their books, benefiting from their ideas. One day I told him that I read Risale-i Nur constantly, and I asked what his idea is, 'Seyda, I owe everything from Risale-i Nur' he replied. Hüseyin Velioğlu's successors will surely contribute to the unity of the Islamic Ummah. The martyr Velioğlu had the pan-Islamism idea; he would leave the path of wahdat. He wanted our young people to act in the circle of Qur'an and Sunnah and spread to other people. He always had chosen the mediocre one. The Jamaah that Hüseyin Velioğlu was instrumental in the establishment, is a Jamaah that free from extremism."

Hüseyin Velioğlu's cause partner and his neighbor Mehmet Fatih also expressed Velioğlu's struggle, his work, his labor and his time for the Islamic cause.

"He would sleep 3 hours in a day"

Narrating that the Martyr would tell Islam by visiting villages, towns, cities, and regions, Mehmet Fatih said: "I don’t think that there a scholar, seyda and sheik left in the region that the Martyr Velioğlu did not visit. They benefited from each other. Martyr Velioğlu was a farsighted intellectual. We were together than we used to in the last times. He would sleep only 3 hours in a day. His cause was his job. His effort to save Islamic Ummah was like a shepherd try to save sheep from the attack of the wolf. He was running to everybody's help. We would ask him to rest and get some sleep but he would make his jacket like a pillow, take a nap for 10 minutes and then would get up."

"He did not carry the concern of Shiites, Sunnis, Turks, Kurds, Arabs or Persian"

Mehmet Fatih concluded his words by saying: "How do bees receive a share of each flower, also Martyr Velioğlu, the guide of this Jamaah received beneficial from the work of every scholar. He was reading from Mawdudi's work, Nursi's work, Sayyid Qutub's work, the works of Hasan El Benna and others. He did not carry the concern of Shiites, Sunnis, Turks, Kurds, Arabs or Acem. He benefited from every Muslim, from scholars in the region and scholars in the world. Could there be a more inclusive, nicer and more humane line than that?"

"His ideas open up new horizons in people's minds, moving them into action"

Hüseyin Velioğlu's close friends Ahmet Seyitoğlu also narrated that: "The ideas expressed by Martyr Hüseyin Velioğlu opened new horizons in people's minds and moving them into action. I especially witnessed many of his worship. He was a pious one. The biggest side of his effect left on people; was his ideas for the future programs of Muslims. This was forming a question mark in everybody's mind; it opens its horizons and activates the people. Velioğlu has a great contribution to Muslims honorable stance right now. He had great programs during we had unity for the honorable future of Muslims to be protected. The work he had done on scholars clearly shows this."

"He did not leave almost any place in Turkiye to spread Islam"

Brother of Martyrs Velioğlu, Serdin Velioğlu also said: "My brother's morality was very nice. He was very diligent to religion. He had never feared, worked hard for Islam to be dominated. He did not leave almost any place throughout Turkiye to spread Islam. He conduce for many people to find the right path. He threw seeds in order to raise a religious lineage on this land."

"Even though we were older than him, he constantly advised us"

Seyfettin Velioğlu, one of the brothers of Martyr, expressed his feelings as follows: "We were 5 siblings and Hüseyin was our youngest brother. He was a very faithful person even at a young age. Although we were older than he was, he constantly advised us. He had a very religious personality. He was a very brave man. He was visiting town to town, village to village, and was telling the religion of Allah. I always said us 'There is nothing more than what Allah would give us.' He was a hard worker in service to Islam. I will never forget him until death. He sent me four new shirts the day before his martyrdom. He always made friends with good people. He would never make friends with bad people. He always reminded us of constant death, and told us to prepare for it."

"Even those who do not follow his path still tell us that he is a very good person"

Mrs. Saliha, the sister of Martyr Hüseyin Velioğlu, said, "When my mom was pregnant to Hüseyin, an imam told one of our villagers that he dreamed my mom with a shining headscarf. Hüseyin was caring our sheep in the village and when the time to learn Qur'an would come, he would ask me to care about sheep and he would go to the mosque at his child age. He would not speak too much and would not say useless words. His only goal is the sake of Allah and Islam. He would tell Islam whenever he visits."

Who is Hüseyin Velioğlu?

Hüseyin Velioğlu, one of the 11 children of Hacı Osman and Fatma couple, opened his eyes to the world on January 1, 1952, in the village of Bağözü (Xiro) of Batman's Gercüş district.

Velioğlu, a member of the Habizbini tribe who has a crowded community around Batman and its surroundings, was a child of a mother and father with an Islamic sensitivity. At the age of 6-7, Velioğlu took the Qur'an lesson from the imam of the village.

When Velioğlu came to 9 years old, they settled in Batman. He graduated from Batman Devrim Primary School, (now named Mehmet Akif Ersoy), in secondary school Batman Site Secondary School (this school later named Batman Petroleum Middle School), then started to study at Mardin Boarding School and then started university. After finishing the Finance Department of the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University, he did not take an official position and settled in Batman and started Islamic activities there.

Hüseyin Velioğlu was married on May 18, 1978, when he was a university student, and this marriage was officially registered on November 20, 1978. Throughout the life of the marriage, there are 11 children, 7 boys, and 4 girls.

Velioğlu, who founded Jamaah of Hizbullah in Turkiye's Batman with his friends in 1979, secretly began congregational activities.

Hüseyin Velioğlu, who settled in Istanbul in 1999, was martyred with long-barreled guns on January 17, 2000, in a police raid on the house he was living.

ILKHA