The ADF started in the early 1990s in Kampala as a dissident movement opposed to the state-recognised Muslim Organization – The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC).

The UMSC was formed in 1972 by President Idi Amin Dada as the single recognised CSO for Uganda’s Muslims.

At the time of its founding, the UMSC’s leadership was made up mainly of inexperienced military officers which made it a stooge of Amin’s military govt.

When Amin’s govt was overthrown in 1979, the council was embroiled in a tag of war with different factions trying to exert control.

The fight pitted the younger clerics – mostly Salafists – returning from Saudi Arabia, South Asia, & Sudan etc against the older – mostly Sufis.

This went on until Museveni took power in 1986.

In 1987, an election was organised for the council leadership, it didn’t address the problems. Instead, it led to a stalemate with the council barely functioning for four years.

Enter Jamil Mukulu – we’ll call him “JM”.

Around the time, JM – a Salafist – who’d studied in Saudi Arabia became an influential figure in the Tabligh movement.

The Tabligh mov’t started in North India in the 1920s & quickly spread across the Muslim world. The Tabligh emphasised egalitarianism & populism toward revitalising Islam at the individual level.

Despite being distinct, Tabligh & Salafists in Uganda become closely intertwined in a generational struggle to take over UMSC.

In 1991 the disputes reached a fever pitch level. A closely contested election for the Mufti was disputed & when the matters got to court which favoured a candidate believed to be Pro-Museveni. The Tabligh & Salafists dismissed the ruling arguing that the candidate lacked the minimum academic credentials outlined by the UMSC Constitution. This was in March 1991.

JM then led a group of Tabligh & Salafist activists – about a thousand in all – & they occupied the UMSC offices at the Old Kampala Mosque, Riot police were called to displace JM & his group from UMSC headquarters. In the ensuing skirmishes, a protester was killed, four policemen were also killed, JM and 434 of his fellow protestors were arrested.

The Ugandan govt & most the Tabligh & Salafists reached an agreement after the old Kampala incident. JM wasn’t one of them. Instead, his views hardened in prison. He renounced the moderates & their decision to establish the Salafi Muslims Movement as a religious institution urging that they ought to take over UMSC leadership instead.

Upon his release in 1993, Jamil Mukulu formed the Salafi Foundation. This set him on a coalition path with the State, and his moderate former friends in the Salafi & Tabligh movement.

Unmoved, JM & his followers decamped from Kampala to Hoima district.

In Hoima, JM later established the Uganda Muslim Freedom Fighters (UMFF) in 1994 as the Salafi Foundation’s military wing. This was the first major indication that JM was no prepared to militarily challenge the Museveni government.

On 25 February 1995, the Uganda Army attacked the UMFF’s camp in Hoima & killed over 98 members forcing JM & others to flee into the DRC where President Mobutu’s reign was in its evenings the vast DRC largely occupied by lawless characters.

This marked the Start of ADF as we know it today.