Historically confirmed and established, as Al-Maqrizi mentions, is that the Banu Hilal were among the Arab tribes in Upper Egypt that participated in the campaign of Sultan Qalawun (686 AH / 1287 AD). That campaign was divided into two large parts: one part went towards the west bank of the Nile, and the other part went towards the east bank. It is not unlikely that the Arabs of Banu Hilal went with the part that went west of the Nile with the first division, and then after the campaign's objectives were completed, they might have headed on their way to West Sudan.

While there is another opinion that a group of Hilalians, after succeeding in their raids in the Maghreb, a section of them engaged south of Tunis, where those southern routes and paths were frequented, known, and inhabited, making movement easy. From here, their arrival in West Sudan was from the northwest route, not from the Red Sea route.

In West Sudan, we find many Arab groups who trace their lineage to the Hilalians or to Abu Zayd, among whom are the Tajuur, Fur, and Zughayqat tribes, and the Hilaliyya of Al-Barqad and Al-Ziyadiyya. In addition to the ethnic influence in these groups, we find the narrative influence represented in their stories. But with all this narrative influence, there is no room for doubt in their lineage to the Hilaliyya or to Abu Zayd. Hence, these Arab tribes that moved to that region are descendants of the Hilalians, even if the narratives differ on the route they took until they reached the regions they inhabit today.

Hawwara: The Hawwara tribes flowed into Upper Egypt, to the western regions, and into Sudan towards the end of the stage of Arab alliances that appeared in Egypt since 561 AH between the Arab tribes against the Mamluk rule. After the end of those alliances...