Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali al-Sanhaji

Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali was born in Marrakech to a Sanhaja family. In his youth, he was afflicted with severe leprosy; cast out of the city by fearful relatives, he took refuge in a lonely ditch outside the city gate of Bab Aghmat, refusing to harbor bitterness or despair.

Over decades of agonizing physical suffering, his cave became a beacon of spiritual joy, patience ('Sabr'), and divine illumination. Citizens, scholars, and sultans flocked to his cave to seek his prayers and wisdom. He is the first saint visited in the sacred pilgrimage circuit of the Seven Saints of Marrakech.