The Gaalje'el (Somali: Gaaljecel, Arabic: الجعل) is a Somali clan. Members of the clan traditionally inhabit central and southern Somalia. The majority of the Gaalje'el live in Hiraan and Middle Shabelle. Like many Somalis, Gaalje'el members trace their paternal ancestry to Samaale, through their Gardhere ancestor. They are genealogically related to the other Samaale, but in particular the Degodia , Isa (Saransor) , 'Owrmale with which they share the same ancestor Gardheere Samaale.
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Gaalje'el is often incorrectly confused as being a sub-clan of Hawiye, although the shared patrilineage with them is just Samaale. There is no closer link or forefather than that.
According to Ali Jimale the etymology around the name Gaalje'el is from gaal meaning camel and je'el meaning love, gaalje'el meaning "that which loves the camel"."Gaal" being the Af May(Reewin dialect) equivalent of "Geel" in Af Maḥa Tiri (the Maḥa Tiri dialect).
Clan tree
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology:Conflict analysis in Bakool and Bay, South-western Somalia in 2004 shows the following clan tree for the Gaalje'el
- Samaale