علي الأصغر

Caravan of Husayn

‘Ali al-Asghar (a)

The infant of Karbala

An arrow answered a father's plea for water.

‘Ali al-Asghar (a) — also remembered as ‘Abd Allah — was the youngest child of Imam al-Husayn (a), an infant of about six months.

In the final hours, the Imam carried the baby before the army and appealed for a little water for the child, hoping to stir some last trace of conscience in the enemy. The answer was an arrow that killed the infant in his father's arms — the single most heart-rending image of Karbala.