The evil of a tale-carrier can even destroy the good relationships of scholars

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Imam Muhammad Ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

The greatest (type) of tale-carrying is when a person spreads tales between scholars- the scholars of the Shariah- by transmitting speech from this scholar to that scholar to ruin their relationship. Especially if it is lies, it is a combination of both tale-carrying and lies. He (the tale-carrier) goes to a scholar and says: “So and so among the people of knowledge says this and that about you”. This (deed) is one of the major sins, therein is great corruption and sows enmity between the scholars, thus leads to disassociation within the society as a result of disassociation among the scholars. [1]

The Imam, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “You find these two men who are friends, then when this man, the tale-carrier – and Allah’s refuge is sought – comes along, he – whether truthful or lying – says: ‘This man reviles you, how can you be his companion while he says this and that about you’. After this (previous) affection (between the two men), enmity occurs between them. This causes a split, similar to sorcery- a type of sorcery, a type of magic. In what way does it resemble sorcery? The student said: ‘Through causing disassociation (between people)’. The Shaikh said: Through splitting (between people).  [فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِۦ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِۦ – They learned that by which they cause separation between man and his wife]”. [2:102]

Tale-carrying resembles sorcery with regards to splitting the people. [2]

[1] https://alathar.net/home/esound/index.php?op=codevi&coid=56024 paraphrased
[2] https://alathar.net/home/esound/index.php?op=codevi&coid=126760 paraphrased