An ethnic group in present-day Sudan from which the historical sultanate of Funjistan arose.
It is known that the Funj rose from southern Nubia (present-day southern Sudan) to overthrow the kingdom of Alodia, but their origins before that remain obscure and disputed. The Funj themselves claimed descent from the Umayyad dynasty through those who escaped slaughter at the hands of the Abbasids and fled to Abyssinia. A currently more accepted theory is that they are Nubians who mixed with Arabs.
1981, Alessandro Triulzi, Salt, Gold, and Legitimacy, Instituto Universitario Orientale, page 77: