It is narrated that he stood in front of Imam Al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) in the battle of Ashura to ask for permission to fight and he authorized him, Imam (peace be upon him) then looked at him and start crying showing his grief and raised his face toward the sky and said: "O Lord! Bear witness on those people, to whom has emerged the one who most resembles your Prophet in physical, moral and speaking characteristics. Thus, we used to look at him when we crave to see Your Apostle. O Lord, do deprive them of the earth abundances, afflict them with absolute disunion and the worst segregation, make them follow different tribes and parties, and do not let the rulers ever be pleased with them, as they called us and promised support, but they turned to fight us wanting to kill us!"
This young man and shining star from the Hussayni House is our master Ali Akbar son of Imam Al-Hussayn (peace be upon both of them), which birth anniversary is on the eleventh of the blessed of Sha'ban.
He is Ali Ibn Al-Hussayn Ibn Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (Peace be upon them all), also known as "Abu Al-Hassan", and his mother is Layla Bint Abi 'Urwa Ibn Mas'ud Al-Thaqafi. He (peace be upon him) was born in the eleventh of the blessed great month of Sha'ban in 33AH. Historians have disagreed on his age, some say 18 years old, while Sheikh Al-Mufid said he was 19 years old and other 25 years old, and as a result they disagreed if he was the eldest or Imam As-Sajjad (peace be upon him).
He (peace be upon him) was very handsome, he was the one who most resembles your Prophet in physical, moral and speaking characteristics, he was brave not fearing wars as he inherited the courage from his grandfather the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), he only had beautiful morals and characteristics, as he was well known by his asceticism, worship, feeding the needy and being generous with the guests. In the battlefield, a man from amongst the crowd shouted, "O Ali! You relate to Yazeed - for his mother Layla was daughter of Maymoona daughter of Abi Sufyan - and we want to respect this relationship. We may grant you an amnesty and a refuge if you wish".
He said "The kinship of the Apostle of God should be second to none." He pressed on proclaiming who he was.
Imam As-Sajjad spoke about his brother Ali Akbar when he (peace be upon him) was brought to Ibn Ziyad's court and made to stand before that tyrant. "Who are you?" He asked the Imam. The Imam replied: "I am Ali Ibn Al-Hussayn". He said: "Did Allah not kill Ali Ibn Al-Hussayn?" The Imam replied: "I had a brother whose name was also Ali and the people killed him ". (The Imam meant to tell Ibn Ziyad not to attribute sin to Allah and not to say something irrelevant, because it was the people and not Allah who killed Ali Ibn Al-Hussayn in Karbala). Ibn Ziyad said: "It is not so. Allah killed him". In reply to this the Imam recited a verse of the Qur'an: {Allah takes the souls when the time of their death comes}, (Surah al-Zumar, 39:42) but He is not their killer.
When Imam Al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) lost all his men, except for his immediate family, Ali Al-Akbar (peace be upon him) came forward with his horse called "Al-Janah [The wing]". He asked for his father’s permission to fight, and his father accepted. Yet, Imam Al Hussayn looked at him desperately and let his tears run on his face while his heart was in flame. As he exposed his sorrow to God, the Glory, he lifted up his two index fingers towards the sky and said:
"O Lord! Bear witness on those people, to whom has emerged the one who most resembles your Prophet in physical, moral and speaking characteristics. Thus, we used to look at him when we crave to see Your Apostle..!"
Then, he (peace be upon him) called Ibn Saad and said: "What’s wrong with you, Ibn Saad? May Allah cut off your pedigree as you did with mine, denying my kinship to the Prophet of Allah". Afterwards Imam Al-Hussain (peace be upon him) spoke loudly and recited the verse of the Almighty: {Allah Chose Adam, Nuh (Noah), the family Of Ibrahim (Abraham) and the family of Imran above the Alamin (Mankind and Jinn (of their times) offspring, one of the other, and Allah is all Hearer, all Knower.} Al-Imran (34-35)
Afterwards, Ali Bin Al-Hussain (peace be upon him) attacked the enemy, while saying:
I’m Ali Bin Al-Hussayn, the son of Ali
We, by the House of Allah, are closest to the Prophet.
By Allah! A man born of fornication shall never be our ruler
I will strike you down with my sword, defending my Father,
The blows of a Hashimi, an ‘Alawi.
So, Peace be upon you, O son of the Messenger of Allah. Peace be upon you, O son of the Prophet of Allah. Peace be upon you, O son of the Commander of the Faithful. Peace be upon you, O son of Al-Hussayn, the martyr. Peace be upon you, O martyr. Peace be upon you, O wronged and harassed and the son of the wrong and harassed. Curse of Allah be on those who killed you. Curse of Allah be on those who persecuted you. Curse of Allah be on those who heard about it and agreed to it.