Hamdun al-Nīsābūrī, who said, “Aḥmad narrated to us.” Abū al-Fath al-Azdī commented, “He used to fabricate ḥadith.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ (Ibn Ḥajar) added in Lisān al-Mīzān, summarising:
“Al-Dāraqutnī said, ‘Others are more reliable than he.’ In Gharaʾib Mālik he declared him weak. Ibn Ḥibbān listed him in al-Thiqat but remarked, ‘He made mistakes.’

I say: He also has a fabricated report with an otherwise sound chain. It was transmitted from him by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Mufassir, the trustworthy Egyptian—who said, ‘I have no other narration from him’—from Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn ʿAbbās, traced back to the Prophet: “Whoever strives on behalf of his brother to fulfil a need, his past and future sins are forgiven.”

Benefit: The ḥadith popularly quoted, “Talking in the mosque consumes good deeds just as fire consumes firewood,” has no foundation. Al-Ghazālī mentioned it in the Iḥyāʾ with the wording, “Conversation in the mosque consumes good deeds just as cattle eat grass,” and its verifier, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī, said, “I could find no source for it.”

I have further observed that scholars differ over the reason for the prohibition regarding forming circles, and no definitive position can be adopted in the absence of an explicit statement from the infallible Prophet. Taken in its absolute sense, however, the wording covers every kind of circle, even for study and discussion. This is what may be inferred from al-Baghawī in Sharḥ al-Sunnah and al-Khattābī in al-Maʿālim. Allah knows best.

6 – Rehearsing poetry (tanāshud al-ashʿār): boasting with poetry and indulging in it excessively until it dominates other concerns and leads to loud noise and disturbance, matters incompatible with the sanctity of the mosques.