Yusuf ibn 'Ali was born in Marrakesh to a family of yemeni origin and lived in the city his whole life.[1][2] He studied under Sheikh Abu 'Usfur.[1] He was afflicted at a young age with leprosy, for which he was allegedly banished from his family and from living in the city.[3][2] He took up residence in a nearby cave or in a hollow that he dug himself, in the lepers' quarter outside the southern city gate of Bab Aghmat.[1][2][3] Despite his ill health, he lived longer than anyone expected and many began to believe he possessed powers to resist hunger and disease.[2] Locals came to visit him in his cave seeking guidance, and he came to be known also as Mul al-Ghar (meaning roughly "Man of the Cave").[2] He died in 1196 CE and was buried in or near the cave where he lived.[3][2]
Legacy
Yusuf ibn 'Ali's reputation grew over time and he became one of the most celebrated of the many awliya ("saints") of his native city.[2] In the 16th century the SaadiansultanMoulay Abdallah al-Ghalib built a mausoleum and zawiya over the cave where he was buried.[4][1] The sultan's reasons for this are unclear but may have been a conciliatory gesture over his displacement of the leprous population from Bab Aghmat to Bab Doukkala.[4]: 378–379 Later on, he was counted among the "Seven Saints" of Marrakesh and his tomb became the first stop in a yearly pilgrimage, or ziyara (Arabic: زيارة), instituted by the Alaouite sultan Moulay Isma'il in the late 17th and early 18th century.[5][4] Today, the neighbourhood and suburb around the mausoleum is part of the local prefecture of Sidi Youssef Ben Ali, named after the saint.[6]
