Few details are known of his origin: his father was called Ibrahim, and according to Ya'qubi he was a mawla of the Banu Thaqif tribe in Bukhara.
[1][2] Yusuf's own religious beliefs are left unmentioned; likewise the meaning of the sobriquet "al-Barm" is unknown.
[2] Yusuf's uprising was one of a series of revolts in Khurasan during the early Abbasid period,[1] such as the roughly contemporaneous rebellion of al-Muqanna.
[3] It spread across southern Khurasan (what is now northern Afghanistan), namely the regions of Badhghis, Marw al-Rudh, Juzjan, and Talaqan.
[1][4] A grandson of Yusuf, Mansur ibn Abdallah, led an unsuccessful revolt in Khurasan during the caliphate of al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833).