Abdallabi tribe

For a short time the Abdallabi succeeded in establishing an independent state, but they were defeated by the Funj Sultanate in 1504 and thereafter ruled over the Butana as vassals until the Egyptian conquest of 1820.

Under Abdallah's leadership Alodia and its capital Soba were destroyed,[4] resulting in rich booty such as a "bejeweled crown" and a "famous necklace of pearls and rubies".

[7] There is a variant tradition that ascribes the fall of Alodia to the Funj, a group from the south led by their king Amara Dunqas,[8] but most modern scholars agree that it fell to the Arabs.

[9][3] The Sudanese chronicler Katib al-Shuna makes brief reference to Abdallah Jamma’a cooperating with Amara Dunqas to fight the indigenous people of Alodia, but apparently the Funj were able to defeat the Abdallabis decisively in a battle near Arbaji in 1504.

[11] When Abdallah Jamma‘a died in the reign of the Funj sultan Amara ii Abu Sikaykin (1557–69), his son ‘Ajib al-Kafuta was appointed to succeed him.

The Funj sultans were at least nominally Muslims by this time, but Abdallabi tradition describes the revolt of ‘Ajib al-Kafuta as a holy war, followed by the building of mosques up the Blue Nile and in the Ethiopian marches.

[10] The power of the ‘Abdallabi depended on the ability of their mounted soldiers to raise taxes from settled farmers, and to exercise some control over the cattle nomads of the plains.

An important source of revenue was customs dues; the destruction of Christian Alodia meant that new trade and pilgrimage routes crossing Sudan from east to west began to open up, connecting Mecca and Medina with the Lake Chad region.

[5] In the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Sheikh Abdallah III, the capital of the Abdallabi realm was moved south from Qarri to Halfayat al-Muluk, just north of modern Khartoum.