Ja'alin

Also known as: Ja'aliyin; Ja'al

Language family: Arabic

The Ja'alin trace their descent to an Abbasid ancestor, Ibrahim Ja'al, and are counted among the three major Nile Arab tribes of northern Sudan. Oral tradition holds they migrated into Sudan around the 12th century and went on to control much of Nubia before the rise of the Funj Sultanate in the early 1500s. The wider Ja'alin federation includes many related tribes beyond the "Ja'alin proper," including the Shaigiya and Rubatab, who share the same claimed ancestry but developed as distinct groups. Historically riverine farmers and traders, Ja'alin communities were centred on Nile towns such as Shendi.