Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn


Abdullah Ali al-Asghar ibn Al-Husayn, or simply Ali Asghar, was the youngest child of Al-Husayn and Rubab bint Imra’ al-Qays. He was martyred during the Battle of Karbala, and is commemorated in shia as the "personified quintessence of the innocent victim."

Biography

He was born in Medina on the 9th of Rajab, 60 AH. His father's other sons were Imam Zayn al-Abidin and ‘Ali al-Akbar. ‘Abdullah's three sisters were Ruqayyah, Fatimah al-Kubra and Fatimah al-Sughra.
Rubab and her two children, Sakina and Ali Asghar, accompanied Husayn to Karbala. In hagiography about the Battle, Husayn's camp at one time was cut off from water supplies from 7th moharram till Ashura and so Husayn went to Yazid's besieging forces to plead water for the women and children in his camp. Husayn had brought along Ali Asghar for mercy, but Yazid's soldiers then martyred Ali by an arrow to his throat. Shia tradition relates that Ali Asghar was martyred by an opposing soldier named Hurmala with a three-headed arrow, when he moved his neck to stop the arrow from hitting his father. Ali Asghar was only six months old when he died. He is honored by Shia as the youngest person martyred at the Battle of Karbala.

Aftermath

The massacre at Karbala made Mukhtar al-Thaqafi seek revenge. He led an uprising in which Hurmala and a number of his comrades were killed.

Commemoration

Ali al-Asghar is buried along with his brother Ali al-Akbar and his father Husayn in Karbala, Iraq, which is now one of the most visited shrines in the world. Ali al-Asghar and his death are commemorated in various ways, including iconographic depictions, hagiography recitations, poetry, replicas of Ali Asghar's cradle and grave, and dolls representing him. according to Shia ritual shahadat-e-Ali asghar is on 9th moharram night however, he was killed 71th before imam Husayn. During nowheh, women perform self-flagellating rituals in which they move around a cradle replica and hit their chests with their hands. In Muharram ceremonies and commemorations, Ali al-Asghar is represented as an innocent child suffering unbearable thirst. His death is mourned at length in rawza-khani literature and in early ta'ziya traditions, a complete majles was dedicated to Ali al-Asghar, with the infant's cradle a conspicuous element on the stage. Ali al-Asghar is also represented in Muharram processions and mourned in folklore.