30. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from al-Husayn ibn Sa‘id from al-Nadr ibn Suwayd from ‘Abd Allah ibn Sinan who has said the following:

“Abu ‘Abd Allah , has said that Ibrahim ibn Maymun told him that he was once sitting in the meeting of abu Hanifah. A man came and asked him (abu Hanifah), ‘What do you think of a man who has performed Hajjahta al-Islam? Is al-Hajj better or setting free of a slave?’ He (abu Hanifah) replied, ‘No, setting free a slave is better.’ Abu ‘Abd Allah , then said, ‘He (abu Hanifah) by Allah, has spoken a lie and has committed a sin. One Hajj is better than setting free of a slave’ . . .he counted up to ten slaves, then he said, ‘Fie upon him; in what kind of setting free of slaves is Tawaf around the House, Sa‘y between al-Safa’ and al-Marwah, staying in ‘Arafat, shaving one’s head and throwing pebbles on al-Jamarat? Had this been true, people would cancel performing al-Hajj altogether; and were they to do it, the Imam would force them to perform al-Hajj whether they liked or disliked it; this House is established for al-Hajj.’”