It is also established in an authentic report that:

“After relieving himself, he ate without performing ablution. He was asked, ‘Will you not perform ablution?’ He replied, ‘I did not intend to pray, so why would I perform ablution?’”

This indicates that ablution was obligatory for him only when he intended to pray, and that his ablution for other purposes was recommended, not obligatory. His statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “I did not intend to pray, so why would I perform ablution?” was not a rejection of performing ablution for purposes other than prayer, but a rejection of making it obligatory for those purposes. One of those present had asked him, “Will you not perform ablution?” It was as though the questioner thought ablution was obligatory before eating. He therefore said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “I did not intend to pray, so why would I perform ablution?” Thus he explained that Allah has made ablution obligatory only for someone who is about to pray.

As for the report:

“Circumambulation of the House is prayer, except that Allah has permitted speech during it. Whoever speaks should therefore speak only what is good.”

Al-Nasā’ī narrated it, and it is reported both as a Companion’s statement and as a saying traced back to the Prophet. Hadith experts, however, authenticate it only as a statement of Ibn ‘Abbās; they do not consider its attribution to the Prophet established. In any case, it provides no proof, for it does not mean that circumambulation is a type of prayer, like the Eid prayer or the funeral prayer, nor that it resembles prayer in every respect. Speech during circumambulation is permissible according to both the transmitted text and scholarly consensus. It has no concluding salutation, neither laughter nor loud laughter invalidates it, and Quranic recitation is not obligatory during it, by agreement of the Muslims. It is therefore not like the funeral prayer, which includes the proclamation “Allah is Most Great” and the salutation of peace: it begins with that proclamation and ends with the salutation.