Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn

A young child, likely an infant, he was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, alongside his father, family members, and a small number of supporters, all of whom were massacred by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid (r. 680–683), who first surrounded them for some days and cut off their access to the nearby river Euphrates.

When pressed by Yazid's agents to pledge his allegiance, Husayn first fled from his hometown of Medina to Mecca and later set off for Kufa in Iraq, accompanied by his family and a small group of supporters.

[1] The tenth-century historian Abu Ali Bal'ami and the Twelver jurist Ibn Tawus (d. 1266) report the age of Abd-Allah as one year and six months, respectively.

[5] The small caravan of Husayn was intercepted and massacred on 10 Muharram 61 AH (10 October 680) in Karbala, near Kufa, by the Umayyad forces who first surrounded them for some days and cut off their access to the nearby river Euphrates.

The Twelver theologian al-Mufid (d. 1022) writes in his biographical Kitab al-Irshad that Abd-Allah was killed in his father's arms by an arrow, as Husayn was preparing to leave his family and enter the battlefield.

[1] Husayn then dug a small grave with his sword and buried the child, according to the Shia author al-Muwaffaq al-Kharazmi of the biographical Maqtal al-Husayn.

[3] The account in Rawzat al-shuhada is that Husayn brought Abd-Allah to the battlefield, held him up, and implored the enemy to have mercy on the thirsty children and allow them some water.

[1] As an act of commemoration, Iranian mourners often dress their baby boys in white jacket and green headband, which is how Abd-Allah is often represented in religious paintings.