Motives for fabricating prophetic reports can include hostility to religion, misguided devotion, group loyalty, pleasing a ruler or patron, material benefit, and gaining attention through sensational stories.
Some falsely claimed they were inventing reports to encourage virtue or warn against vice. A beneficial intended outcome does not make a knowingly false prophetic attribution permissible. Others manipulated reports to support factions or attract patronage.
Critical caution: misconduct by some members of a group cannot justify a judgment against every member. Fabrication must be attributed through evidence connected to a specific narrator and transmission, not merely through affiliation or occupation.