[14] According to a source, the tribe allegedly once spoke a now extinct dialect of Nubian as late as the nineteenth century.

[14] According to the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1888, the name Ja'alin does not seem to be derived from any founder of a tribe, but rather from the root Ja'al, an Arabic word meaning "to put" or "to stay", and in this sense it is those who settle.

They were almost the first of the northern tribes to join the Mahdi in 1884, and it was their position to the north of Khartoum which made communication with General Gordon so difficult.

In July 1897 Ja'alin tribal leaders refused to allow the Mahdist forces to occupy the Ja’alin town of Metemmeh, a strategic point on the Nile, 180 kilometres downstream of Omdurman.

[20] As a consequence, Ja’alin tribesmen supported the Anglo-Egyptian forces on their advance on Omdurman in 1898, including supplying an irregular force of 2,500 cavalry,[21] which helped clear the east bank of the Nile of Mahdist fighters in the days before the Battle of Omdurman.

[citation needed] Some Ja'alin still farm and raise livestock along the banks of the Nile River, but in the 21st century, they more commonly make up a large part of the Sudanese urban population, forming a large part of the merchant class.

[17] According to a source, the tribe allegedly once spoke a now extinct dialect of Nubian as late as the nineteenth century.