She said: "I entered with a group of women from Quraysh into the house of the family of Abu Husayn, looking at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as he was performing Sa'i between al-Safa and al-Marwah, and his lower garment (mi'zar) was turning in the middle of his waist due to the intensity of his pace, such that I would say: I can see his knees. And I heard him saying: 'Perform Sa'i, for Allah has prescribed the Sa'i upon you.'" Narrated by Ibn Majah (7). Furthermore, because it is a ritual in Hajj and Umrah, it is a pillar in both, like circumambulating the House. It is narrated from Ahmad that it is a sunnah, and no penalty (dam) is obligatory for omitting it. This is narrated from Ibn Abbas, Anas, Ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn Sirin, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: {So there is no blame upon him to walk between them} (8). The negation of blame upon the one who does it is evidence of its non-obligatory nature, for this is the status of something permitted (mubah), and its being a sunnah is established only by His saying: {from the symbols of Allah}. It is also narrated that in the codices (mashaf) of Ubayy and Ibn Mas'ud [it was written]: "So there is no blame upon him not to walk between them." If this is not considered Quran, it does not descend below the rank of a report (khabar), because both of them narrate it from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Furthermore, it is a ritual possessing a numerical count that does not relate to the House, so it is not a pillar, like the casting of pebbles (ramy). The Qadi said: It is obligatory, not a pillar; if he omits it, a penalty is mandatory for him. This is the madhhab of al-Hasan, Abu Hanifah, and al-Thawri. This is more appropriate, because the evidence of those who made it obligatory indicated absolute obligation, not that Hajj is not complete without it. The statement of Aishah regarding this is countered by the statement of those who differed with her among the Companions. As for the hadith of Bint Abi Tajrah, Ibn al-Mundhir said: It is narrated by Abdullah ibn al-Mu'ammal, and they have spoken [critically] about his hadith. Furthermore, it (9) indicates that it is prescribed (maktub), which is the obligatory (wajib). As for the verse, it was revealed when some people felt uncomfortable about the Sa'i in Islam, because they used to walk between them in the Pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah) on account of two idols that were on al-Safa and al-Marwah. Aishah stated the same.