a distance ranging between 350 and 400 kilometers, and a branch of them headed west, where they settled in Kordofan. This Arab expansion over such a vast geographical area, which occurred between the fifteenth and late eighteenth centuries, is greatly supported by the studies of the traveler Burckhardt and his journeys in the first half of the nineteenth century, specifically in 1814, several years before the Egyptian conquest. However, it is not easy to confirm their migration directly from the East, because it is possible that they made their way towards the Eastern Desert route from the North, especially if we know that the Kawahlah are remnants of Rabi'ah who migrated to Egypt. Some of them settled in the Eastern Basin in Lower Egypt, and some of them settled in the land of metal in Upper Egypt and the land of the Beja. Accordingly, the ancestors of the Kawahlah settled in the land of metal since the ninth century AD and mixed with the Arab tribes that inhabited that region, such as the Darriyah and others from the descendants of Saba and Mudar. These tribes participated in the political events of that era and were forced due to the conflict that arose between them over grazing lands, which arose between them and the indigenous people, and the resulting disruption of security, deterioration of the economic situation, disruption of trade between Egypt and Sudan, and disruption of the movement of caravans in the northern Nubian region, and the absence of a central government that could enhance security and protect trade routes. Therefore, some of these tribes participated in an alliance with the Funj when one of its leaders, Abdullah Jamaa, sheikh of the Qawasimah Arabs, allied with the Sultan of the Funj and was able to establish the Arab Islamic Sultanate. This was after their movement south and their departure from the land of cities. Accordingly, the Kawahlah became one of the most important tribes that had close contact with the Beja, to the extent that every Beja group was attributed to Bani Kahil, preferring the new Arab lineage over the old Beja lineage. 238