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Ali al-Akbar, son of Imam al-Husayn عليه السلام and Layla, was the young man who most resembled the Prophet ﷺ in appearance, character and speech. On the day of Ashura he was the first of the family of Banu Hashim to go out to fight, and he was buried at his father’s feet.
The likeness of the Prophet
Al-Khwarazmi records that, as Ali al-Akbar went out to fight, Imam al-Husayn عليه السلام called on God to witness that a youth had gone out to them who most resembled His Prophet ﷺ in form, character and speech. On the road to Karbala, al-Mufid records, the Imam woke from a short sleep repeating “To God we belong and to Him we return”. When his son asked why, he said that he had seen a rider announcing that death was travelling towards them. Ali al-Akbar asked whether they were not in the right; when his father said that they were, he replied that then they did not mind dying in the right.
Ashura
Ali al-Akbar fought announcing his lineage from al-Husayn and Ali. Al-Mufid and Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani record that Murra ibn Munqidh al-Abdi struck him and that others then fell upon him; his father came to him and wept over him. The Ziyarat al-Nahiya, preserved by Ibn Tawus, names his killer and greets him as the first to be killed of the descendants of the best of lineages. He was buried at the feet of his father, where his grave is visited within the shrine.
His name and age
In common usage, including in South Asia, he is Ali al-Akbar, the elder Ali, and the Imam who survived Karbala is Ali Zayn al-Abidin. Al-Mufid, however, calls Imam Zayn al-Abidin عليه السلام Ali al-Akbar and this son Ali al-Asghar, holding that the Imam was the elder; most genealogists and later scholars consider the martyr to have been the elder.
Differing reports
- Elder or younger than Imam al-Sajjad عليه السلام: most genealogists say he was the elder; al-Mufid says he was the younger and calls him Ali al-Asghar.
- Age at Karbala: reports range from about eighteen to about twenty-seven; 11 Sha‘ban 33 AH, the commonly observed date of his zahoor, is not in the early sources.
- Marriage and children: some genealogists say he left no children; a phrase in a ziyarah has been read as referring to a family.
Sources
- Kitab al-Irshad fi Ma‘rifat Hujaj Allah ‘ala al-‘Ibad — al-Mufid, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu‘man (d. 413 AH / 1022 CE). chapter on Imam al-Husayn
- Maqatil al-Talibiyyin — Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 356 AH / 967 CE)
- Maqtal al-Husayn — al-Khwarazmi, al-Muwaffaq ibn Ahmad (d. 568 AH / 1172 CE)
- Iqbal al-A‘mal — Ibn Tawus, Radi al-Din Ali ibn Musa (d. 664 AH / 1266 CE). Ziyarat al-Nahiya
- Kamil al-Ziyarat — Ibn Qulawayh, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad (d. 368 AH / 978–9 CE)