Idi Amin

Accounts of his birth disagree, because no birth records were kept for native Ugandans at the time: British governmental records give the year 1925, while family tradition and the Saudi authorities in Jeddah give 10 Dhu al-Hijja 1346 AH, corresponding to 30 May 1928, at Kampala, and Amin himself gave ages in interviews implying different years. ^{1 2} He was born to a Kakwa father who had been christened a Roman Catholic and converted to Islam in 1910, changing his name to Amin Dada, and to a Lugbara mother. ^{1 3} He was given the name Idi after his birth on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, and as a boy he moved to the home of a sheikh in the town of Semuto and memorised the Quran by recitation until he was twelve; he continued at the madrasa in Bombo until 1944 and reportedly won honours in recitation. ¹

Amin joined the King's African Rifles, part of the British colonial army, in 1946 as a cook, rose to the rank of lieutenant, and took part in British actions against Somali rebels and then in the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. ¹ After Uganda's independence in 1962 he remained in the army, becoming deputy army commander in 1964 and commander two years later. ¹ On 25 January 1971 he led the coup that overthrew President Milton Obote and took the presidency. ¹

Amin ruled from 1971 to 1979. In 1972 he expelled Uganda's Asian residents. His regime favoured his own groups in senior posts: by 1977 Muslims formed the large majority of the top generals and of the cabinet, although they were only about five per cent of the population, according to the English article. ¹ His rule ended with the Uganda–Tanzania War, and he was overthrown on 11 April 1979. ¹

Amin first escaped to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed him sanctuary and paid him a subsidy in return for staying out of politics; in interviews in exile he never expressed remorse for the brutal nature of his regime. ¹ He died at Jeddah on 16 August 2003 and was buried at Ruwais Cemetery there. ^{1 2}

Amin was raised in a Muslim family, memorised the Quran as a boy and carried the title Al-Hajji — upbringing, formation and practice, none of which names a school. None of the sources consulted — the English, Arabic and Urdu articles and Wikidata — names a religious school for him, and Wikidata sets his religion value explicitly to no value. ^{1 3 2} His faith is therefore recorded as unknown.

Neither his predecessor Milton Obote nor his successor Yusuf Lule has a record in the museum, so no succession relation is written; the relation written is his death at Jeddah. ¹

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