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SOGA 697
administration but also in the religious sphere. The Ganda were the people who
did more than anyone else to spread Islam among the Soga, and therefore many
of the Islamic characteristics of Buganda can be found in Busoga. Moreover,
the Soga Muslims are still largely under the influence of Buganda Muslim religious
leaders.
The number of the Muslims in Busoga is the highest after that of Buganda.
They comprise about 15 percent of the 1 million inhabitants of the district. The
Christians constitute about 45 percent, and the rest retain their traditional religion.
The first Muslims to reach Busoga were the Arab and Swahili traders from
the east coast of Africa. They arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century,
but the Muslim traders did not leave any significant Islamic mark similar to that
in Buganda. Their numbers were smaller due to the fact that Busoga was not as
secure as Buganda, where the king was in absolute control of his territory.
Besides, the traders were interested mainly in profit and not so much in the
diffusion of Islam.
A second group who brought Islam to Busoga were the Sudanese troops who
were recruited by the British administration at the end of the nineteenth century,
some of whom were stationed in the district. The Sudanese soldiers intermarried
with Soga families and also proselytized their servants. Because of the prestige
which the Sudanese soldiers enjoyed as part of the British rule, other Soga
adopted their religion and a nucleus of a Muslim community developed around
them.
A far more important factor encouraging Islam were the Ganda Muslims who
arrived in Busoga as refugees in the wake of the religious wars in Buganda at
the end of the nineteenth century. In these wars between the Christians and
Muslims, the latter were defeated and many of them fled. Later, during the
British colonial rule (1894-1962), some Ganda Muslims arrived in Busoga along
with other Ganda Christians to serve as assistants and interpreters to the British
officials. Muganda Ali Lwanga is a typical example. He came to Busoga as an
interpreter of the British district commissioner and then was promoted to county
chief. In this prestigious position, he was able to encourage the adoption of
Islam. Some of the Soga converts were influential people, such as Munulo, the
hereditary chief of Bugweri County, who was converted to Islam in 1896 and
then imposed his new religion on many of his dependents and subjects. Christian
missionaries who feared lest Islam be the dominant religion in Busoga induced
the British to send Munulo into exile. Yet, Bugweri County remained (and
remains) one of the most Islamized areas in Uganda. About 80 percent of its
people are Muslims, and it has become a center for further diffusion of Islam
in Busoga.
Indeed, the progress of Islam in Busoga alarmed the Christian missionaries
and the British administrators. The missionaries pressed the government to block
the expansion of Islam in Busoga, claiming that the Muslims were less loyal
than the Christians and that they might endanger British rule. British officials,
at the beginning of the century, usually agreed with them. Thus, Sir Harry