whereupon the man rose, kissed his head, hands, and feet, and embraced Islam.

Al-Bazzār included it in his Musnad (3/132–133, Kashf al-Astār); as did Ibn al-Aʿrābī in Kitāb al-Qubal (p. 6), and Abū Nuʿaym in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (pp. 332–333). Al-Bazzār said:

“We know of no one other than Ḥibbān who narrated it from Ṣāliḥ, and we know of no report concerning the kissing of the head other than this.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is weak, because both Ṣāliḥ and Ḥibbān are weak, as stated in al-Taqrīb and elsewhere.

There is another account on this subject, similar to the hadith under discussion, narrated from Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—through an authentic chain according to al-Bazzār and others. Ibn Ḥibbān and others authenticated it, and it is cited in al-Mishkāt as no. 5925.

Shaykh Ḥabīb al-Aʿẓamī—forgive us and him—confused it, in his annotations to Kashf al-Astār (3/133), with the hadith of ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—which is narrated through ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Abū Rāfiʿ, from him. He wrote in his annotation:

“Al-Haythamī said: Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are those of the authentic collections. It was also narrated by Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār (8/292). I [al-Aʿẓamī] say: Its chain includes ʿAlī ibn Zayd, whose hadith al-Haythamī and al-Bazzār regarded as good!”

I say: The point of confusion is that he alleged that al-Bazzār’s hadith of Ibn ʿUmar contains ʿAlī ibn Zayd—namely, Ibn Judʿān. This is sheer error; rather, he occurs in the chain of the hadith of ʿUmar, as you have seen. Al-Haythamī mentioned it elsewhere and said of it (9/10):