‘Abdullah ‘Ali al-Asghar ibn Al-Husayn (10 Rajab 60 AH – 10 Muharram 61 AH (10 October 680 CE)), or simply ‘Ali Asghar ("Younger ‘Ali"), was the youngest child of Al-Husayn (son of ‘Ali, grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and the third Shi‘ite Imam) and Rubab bint Imra’ al-Qays. He was killed during the Battle of Karbala’, and is commemorated in Shi‘ism as the "personified quintessence of the innocent victim."
He was born in Medina on the 10th of Rajab, 60 AH. His father's other sons were Imam ‘Ali Zaynul-‘Abidin and ‘Ali al-Akbar. ‘Abdullah's three sisters were Ruqayyah (Sukainah), Fatimah al-Kubra (Sakinah) 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 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 killed Ali by an arrow to his throat. Shia tradition relates that Ali Asghar was killed by Harmala with a three-headed arrow, when he moved his neck to stop the three-headed object from hitting his father. It has also been stated that it took Hurmala three attempts to shoot the arrow. He said he kept seeing the mother of Ali Asghar in front of his eyes. At Karbala, Ali Asghar was only six months old before he died. He is honored by Shia as the youngest person killed at the Battle of Karbala.