Tok Kenali (2)

Also refer to Search 23 and MAIK

Tok Kenali

Real name: Muhammad Yusuf bin Ahmad (1868-1933)

Contributions to Kelantan: religious teacher, thinker, intelligent holy man, sage

Tok Kenali was born Muhammad Yusuf bin Ahmad in 1868. He grew up and married and had family in Kubang Kerian. Tok Kenali walked from Kubang Kerian to the Muhammadi Mosque in Kota Bharu where he taught the religion. He walked barefoot and walked fast; there were sightings of him in Kubang Kerian and he had arrived in Kota Bharu soon after that. These sightings were typical of people who were close to Allah SWT. After assisting with MAIK to make Islam a state religion and to focus life around its tenets, Tok Kenali finally died in 1933, aged 65. I figured he had died of diabetic complications, probably of advanced diabetic neuropathy as he didn't feel an injury on the sole of his foot. Tok Kenali was finally laid to rest at Tanah Perkuburan Tok Kenali, a Muslim graveyard in Kubang Kerian which was named in his honour. The graveyard is close to the water storage towers in Kubang Kerian and some distance from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). We visited Makam Tok Kenali on 5 December 2012.

We visited Muzium Islam Kelantan on 30 March 2013 and saw 2 posters on Tok Kenali and a big wall poster of the other religious teachers of Islam.