Sidi Youssef Ben Ali

Sidi Yusuf ibn 'Ali as-Sanhaji is a wali (Muslim mystic or saint) who was born in Marrakesh, Morocco and died there in 1196 CE. He is considered one of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh, and one of the administrative divisions of Marrakesh is named after him.

Biography Yusuf ibn 'Ali was born in Marrakesh to a family of Yemeni origin and lived in the city his whole life. 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. 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.