MY GRAND MOTHER AISHA AATE DADY IDI AMINs MOTHER

REFLECTIONS BY TSHOMBE JAFFAR REMO AMIN ON THE NUBIANS OF UGANDA (EXCERPTS TAKEN FROM"REMBI’S MYSTICAL LEGACY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CHRONICLE", "MY FATHER IDI AMIN WAS DADDY TO US: TSHOMBE JAFFAR REMO AMIN SPEAKS IN MEMOIRS, REFLECTIONS AND SPOKEN WORDS" AND "IDI AMIN: THE REAL BIOGRAPHY"





To read outlines and/or obtain FULLER TRANSCRIPTS, please click on the link "OBTAIN TRANSCRIPTS".



Our Triad Cultural Heritage:


To Quote Karen Armstrong’s book titled ISLAM a Short History, “Islam thrives without Government support, indeed the only constant in a world of Political flux.” (End of Quote)



The Al – Qadriyah Tariqah at Bombo’s Masgid Noor should be discussed at length to give a full benefit and clarification to our long and misunderstood Triad Cultural Heritage.


I will personally champion the inclusion of arguably the 1st Brick and Mortar Mosque in Uganda to become a National Heritage Site.



A Brief History:




By the time Lord Lugard {Kapere} and Colonel Colville inherited Amin (EMIN) Pasha’s so called Nubian Troops, they (Nubians) having been approached by one Major A.B. Thruston, who met remnants of the Rebel Commander Salim Bey’s Battalion of approximately 1,500 Rifles strong had been abandoned on the shores of Vuta Nzige {Present day Lake Albert} by the Belgian Congo Administration, following the Lapse of the territorial Rights to the Lado Enclave in 1909-10.


A Truly Triad Cultural Society combining the Territorial Imperative of the ongoing scrabble for the so-called “Dark Continent” imposed by the Colonialists, Our Sufi Futuwah of the Al Qadriyah Order and our Individual Ethnic Origins eg. Aringas, Avukaya, Alur, Bari, Fojulu, Junam, Kakwa, Kuku, Lendu, Logo, Lugbara, Moru, Mundari, Nyagwara, Zande, etc came together in this unique melting pot under the Armed Forces of the emerging British Protectorate following the Demise of the Belgian Monarch Leopold II.


Major A.B. Thruston took the remnants of approximately 1,500 rifles strong plus 3,000 family members of Salim Bey a Giant Makaraka’s Battalion to Masindi.



Fardhl Al Mullah {Fodimulla} a 6’ 4” Terego Man had also camped at Bora following an intense attack on his 1,000 strong troops by his very own tribes mate of Terego who considered Amin (EMIN) Pasha’s troops as Muslims & foreigners at that!




He too like Salim Bey had refused to accompany Stanley & Amin (EMIN) Pasha’s evacuated contingent who had left for Mombasa following an intense and tragic attack by the Mahdist Army of Karmullah.


The above remnants were the Genesis of what would be amalgamated into the Kings African Rifles (KAR), then the Uganda Rifles (UR) and finally into the Uganda Army (UA) & Uganda Police (UP) by 9th October 1962 (the day Uganda attained “Independence” from the British).




The combined force of approximately 2,500 Rifles with their family of upwards of 3,000 strong where brought down near the lake side Port Bell Encampment which was later named Port Bell but resided in the Garrison which was eventually converted into the present day (Marchinson Bay) Maximum Prison Luzira. The place was initially heavily under forest cover and the Nubian troops remarked in Colloquial Arabic “Umon Jibu ina fil Ghaba” (“they have brought us into a forest!?”). The Name GABA ensued from this remark…..


They were then transferred near the seat of Political Power at a swampy locale called Kitigulu in Entebbe, the initial Colonial Capital.


The Nubian Troops were finally transferred to the Newly Installed Army Headquarters Barracks in Bombo, Luwero District.


The majority of The Triad “Creole” Nubians call them what you may, adhered to the Sunni Teachings championed by Imam Al- Ghazzali (Abu Hamid Muhammed).



Based on his influential writings “Ihyah Ulum Al-Din” whose endearing insight fostered and galvanized the tradition that only Ritual and Prayer could give Humanity a direct knowledge of Allah Subhana Wata Allah.


His teachings had urged the Muslim Ummah to practice the contemplative Rituals that were mainly associated with the Mystical Esoteric Movements which enhanced a Believer’s inner spirituality while encouraging a Believer’s outward rules of Shariah based on our five Pillars of Islam.


This Revolutionary concept propelled the Muslim Ummah to the extent that instead of Dhikir (Remembrance of God) being a solitary practice for Esoteric Sufi Muslims confined to the so called Religious Elite, the traditional chanting of the 99 Attributes of Allah Subhana Wata Allah became a group activity that indeed propelled Believers into an alternative state of awareness.


Two Unique Tariqah Schools excelled in spreading this Sufi Ritual in the African Great lakes Region.


From the Eastern Board came the Tariqah Al – Alawiyah which came with the Sea Faring Arabs searching for Slaves and Ivory as far a field as Oman,Yemen’s Hadral maut and down as far as Zan-Zibar. This Tariqah (route) had its greatest adherents at the Futuwah in Mambrui, near Malindi and Lamu in Kenya.


The Second Tariqah School is the main subject of this discourse - the Tariqah Al Qadriyah which had its strongest adherents the length and breadth of the Great Sahel Belt stretching from Mauritania on the Atlantic Coast right across through to Sudan on the Red Sea - the Most famous retreat being based in the State of Niger with annual Mawled Ziyarahs (visits) that attracted the Rich and Powerful Rulers from as far a field as the Magrib Kingdoms on the Shores of the Mediterranean.


This Tariqah came into Uganda with the Nubian Troops and they built arguably the 1st Brick and Mortar Mosque “Mosgid Al Noor" in Bombo in the early 1900s.


As mentioned above, Tariqah Al – Qadriyah had its strongest adherents amongst the Kings African Rifle Troops whose key base was the newly installed Bombo Military Headquarters in present day Luwero District in the Great Kingdom of Buganda.


Their contribution to Nation building or shackling the indigenous peoples of present day Uganda to Colonial dominion is much maligned by Parochial Historians who tend to focus most of the glory of the expansion policy on the figure of Ugandan Jew Semei Kakungulu (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/uganda1.html); (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abayudaya). Yet facts on the ground state that in fact the Baganda were only part of the war efforts as 15,000 spear wielding support staff who were used to consolidate British Colonial Territory.


The real action under the command of Colonel Colville were the much maligned Maxim wielding Nubians who made up the bulk and indeed the fulcrum of the real colonialist expansionist policy in the New Protectorate .


It is one thing to claim the Ugandan Jew Semei Kakungulu was expanding the ancient BugandaKingdom, while it is another for us to know deep down that we were riding Piggy Back on a colonialist agenda that shackled indigenous Africans to Queen Victoria’s Apron.



Semei Kakungulu’s 15,000 strong spear wielding Militia were the forerunner to today’s LDU militias.


Although he did a commendable job with the Masaza and Muluka chiefs posted into the captured areas when the Van Guard Nubian Soldiers were removed, alas they met up with protracted resistance from the locals as was witnessed in Dokolo county in the former Lango Province; to date The Ganda derisively call any tall dark & handsome fellows Omudokolo!


The Van Guard Troops of the New Protectorate Army under the Command of Colonel Colville, did indeed settle in Bombo under a donation from His Majesty Kabaka Daudi Chwa and they built the Magnificent Masgid Noor, arguably the oldest standing Brick & mortar Mosque in the country.


In fact the Late King Faisal was mesmerized and his confidence strengthened when he beheld this ancient structure in the most unexpected of places. When my father the Late Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada gave him a personal tour of the ancient structure in 1972, he also went on to introduce his former Madrasah classmates, amongst whom the most famous ones were the adepts Sheikh Abdul Qadr Aliga and himself Idi Amin Dada who were trained in the esoteric practices at this KhanQah where they won honors in their youth in Alim Al Qur-an (the Quranic Scholar), in the 1930s and 1940s under the guardianship of the Late Sheikh Al-Rajab.


This Futuwah Establishment was the bonding at Ummah (Muslim nation) level amongst the warriors in our distinct Dar-El Islam (house of Islam) where we are encouraged to ignore ethnic backgrounds. This TariQah Al Qadriyah thus became another source of unity apart from our elevated status as per what Lord Lugard had glowingly termed in 1891 “The best material for Soldiery in Africa” (End of Quote) in MOYSE-BATLET 1956:59.


Colloquial Arabic spoken by all and sundry in Junub Al Sudan ( Southern Sudan to date) became the de facto Linga Franca amongst a multitude of over 20 different Ethnic Groups in the then Lado Enclave brought together under Amin (EMIN) Pasha’s armed corps in the 1880s.


The Ganda could not pronounce Junub Al Sudan and with their renowned propensity to shorten names called the newly arrived soldiers “Ba-Nubi”.


Thus the Tariqah strengthened the faith of even the most uneducated Muslims who acquired an inner resonance and sense of Brotherhood that had once been the preserve of the Esoteric Elite.



However this strong unity also fostered the prevalent unpleasant and negative superiority complex that the colonialists encouraged as part of their divide and rule strategy amongst the Nubians who considered all around them as “La-abi” {Rural/slave} as opposed to they whom they considered as Civilized Urbanites.


This sense of the rural Jahiliyah (period of ignorance) against the Urbanite Mumins (Believers) persists to this very day with derisive comments or even songs like one aimed at my paternal uncle Juma Kuri of the Piza/Go-diya Kakwa Clan, a former KAR Soldier when a Doluka Dance Troupe Started chanting “Juma Kuri La-abi mata chunga ana, chunga Apayi Yo” when he tried to stop evening forages by the Urbanite Nubian women in Arua town in the 1950s. They implied he should not look after them or restrict them urbanite ladies but should instead look after his very own rural sister Apayi.



The Tariqahs were not bound to a particular region passé. We have always had Ziyahrahs (Tours) of the Holy Men traversing the globe, more so as the British Empire spread and was consolidated in Africa under Fridriek Lugard’s recommendation as per to whom to utilize to spearhead the Van Guard, which fell on our shoulders, beating a trail blazing path into uncharted territory. We Nubians found ourselves as far a field as Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia & Malawi, in fact or rumors abound that possibly Bakili Muluzi just might, just might? be of Nubian Stock although not substantiated.


Tariqah Al Qadriyah’s Holy Men traversed the Great Sahil Region from as far a field as Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Tchad, Libya, Sudan and into Northern Uganda right through to Arua and onwards to Bombo’s Masgid Noor.


We also got welcome visits from the Tariqah Al Alawiyah order who traversed as far a field as Oman, Hadral mawt Yemen, passing through Somailia, Lamu, Mambrui, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Dar-es-salam, Arusha, Mbale, Jinja, Kibuli, Bombo, right through to far off places like, Soroti, Kumi, Lira, Gulu, Arua and right down the length and breadth of eastern Congo Via Warr.



The Riddle:


Alas when most western writers and journalists report or investigate my father’s much maligned figure, they search in vain for the evil cannibalistic savage in his Psyche, yet much to our amusement and reflection including facts on the ground, he was very much an Urbanite Muslim Born and Bred. His idea of an outing in the jungle was to set an impromptu picnic for his VIP guest the late King Faisal at a picnic site on the right hand side shoulder as you head for Jinja in the middle of the now endangered Mabira Rain Forest in 1972.


The King was so taken in by the wonderful surroundings that he remarked, “this surely must be how Heaven must look like, Allah!” My father was ecstatic with the praise showered on the beauty of his homeland by his illustrious guest.


Years later while reminiscing about his past at our Al safa residence, father once lamented the loss of what he claimed to have had - a beautiful voice! - which he claimed he lost following a brutal illegal Hook by an unscrupulous Zania ( South African) Boar frontlines man in a Rugby Match in the 1950s.





He was then the only indigenous Rugby player allowed to use the facility at the Jinja Rugby Club at the height of Colonial Segregation.





He claimed he never again regained that beautiful voice Hmmmm!





I have images of youthful Idi chanting the fantastic voyage of the Holy Prophet’s Mihraj (tour to heaven) to a transfixed audience filled to capacity with dignitaries from around the world on an annual Mawlid Ziyarah to Masgid Noor Futuwah in Bombo in the 1930s and 1940s.





Amonye (Father) was reputed to have attained by then the level of an adept and was aware and cultivated a sense of Alam Al Mithal the mystical world of pure images. Some even claim his intuition was legendary; a renowned seer to some for his Erie ability - a certain ability to foretell future events with amazing accuracy.….. a Mystical trait he both cultivated from his strong association with the Al Qadriyah Order and also having inherited the same ability from his Okapi/ Bura mother, who was by far the most revered and powerful member of the Yakanye Allah Water movement at the Fourth battalion Jinja Under KAR. This was later converted to the 1st Battalion Jinja under the UR and finally my Father as Head of State renamed the barracks Al Qadhafi Garrison following their (Bilateral Joint declaration on 14th February 1972) between the Great Peoples Jamahiriya of Libya and the 2nd Republic of Uganda.


Allah Water Movement:


As a footnote, the origins of the so-called Allah Water Movement ought to be given some form of clarification from an insider’s point of view so to speak, in light of the blinkered and arrogant way most Caucasian Researchers eg. Leopold’s Trash Thesis, tend to treat the subject matter.


These Quack Researchers have failed to appreciate the all pervasive nature of our unique Triad cultural ability to amalgamate different belief patterns into our so called Nubian melting pot.



A case in point: Traditionally/originally, Jahiliyah Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula had always given the Zam Zam spring water created at the agitated foot of a crying Baby Ismail, son of Abraham and his Betrothed Maid Servant Hagar, mystical powers against illness, infertility and physical prowess whether in war or virility.


The tradition and the water was brought over the Red Sea to Africa by returning Pilgrims into the Sudan.


It gained mystical prominence as a revolutionary tool amongst the Dervishes of the Mahdi, in Africa’s 1st successful revolution against Colonialism in the Sudan.



The distribution of Zam Zam as a portent medicinal drug was pivotal as a unifying factor in most of the administrative activity of the Mahdist revolt.


The name gradually changed to Allah Water amongst Amin (EMIN) Pasha’s so called Nubian Troops who also extensively picked up the tradition.


By the time it reached the Plains of Nilotic Kakwa under the Famous Indigenous Animist Kakwa Prophet Rembi (Rembe) they had given it the name Yakanye or Dede amongst the Lugbari, which corresponds to grandmother in Kakwa and Lugbari respectively.


The name reverted back to the basic Arabic name Mayi Mayi or the coastal Swahili pronunciation Maji Maji.


Whether it was still obtained from the Legendary Zam Zam spring in Makkah Al Mukaramah is open to conjecture, although amongst the Kakwa the location has turned to our Mystical Mount Liru in the Tara Area pronounced Taranga in the Bari Language. Moreover it is interesting even to date, to witness that whomsoever returning Muslim Pilgrim comes with either the ten litre or the five litre jerry can of Zam Zam water, is received with the very same reverence of old.




My grandmother Aisha Aate:





My Grandma cultivated an endearing relationship with the Nabageraka, Queen Drucilla the wife to His Majesty Kabaka Chwa of the Great Kingdom of Buganda, who was told of the exceptional skills of a certain Lugbara Holistic Medicine Woman in her kingdom. Alas she had spent the better part of five years without conceiving. Thankfully, both Prince Mawanda & Mutesa II were born as a result of having sought the services of Aisha Aate in the early 1900s.


Alas this special relationship with the Ganda Royal Family was to bring some misunderstandings when some unscrupulous Ganda & Nubians spread the rumor that the Kabaka Daudi Chwa fathered Idi Amin in the late 1920s.


This rumor was in part the reason for my grandparents’ separation when the then Policeman Amin Dada was transferred to the Kololo Police barracks in the 1930s from the Nakasero Police Barracks at Shimoni.


However the Kabaka built for Aisha a house in Kitigulu at a marshy site just as you approach Entebbe, following a short stint at Mengo with the infant Idi Amin in 1928.