Far too often we become fixated upon the differences of opinion - between mathahib, between scholars, between various groups and so on. I'd like to inshaAllah quote something from the biography of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at length, which will inshaAllah give us much food for thought on this problem:
"As the Muslims were preparing to march towards the district of Banu Quraizah [after the Battle of the Trench, also know as the Battle of the Confederates], the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them, "Let no one (among you) pray 'asr until (you reach) Banu Quraizah." The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) disagreed about the meaning of this command. Some of them felt that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was simply trying to encourage them to get to their destination as quickly as possible - before sunset, preferably - and that he (peace be upon him) did not literally mean that they should not pray 'asr on time. These Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) stopped and prayed 'asr on time before they reached Banu Quraizah. Others understood the Prophet's command literally: They were not to pray until they reached Banu Quraizah. The time for 'asr came and went, and they didn't pray it because they had not yet reached their destination. Only after they reached Banu Quraaizah did they pray 'asr.
"Once everyone reached Banu Quraizah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reproached neither of the two groups, which established an important precedent in Islamic legislation - the precedent of having disagreements about secondary issues in Islamic jurisprudence and of recognizing the fact that the proponents of each opinion (if they try their best to arrive at the truth) are rewarded.
"This incident is referred to during the discussion of a variety of issues in Islamic jurisprudence. For one thing, it establishes the permissibility of deducing laws from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Also, it shows us that it is not possible for Muslim scholars to end their disagreements about secondary issues in jurisprudence - and there is nothing wrong in that. To try to end such disagreements is a foolish waste of time. For whenever there is a case in which scholars have to derive laws from their understanding of revealed texts, they will often disagree, an inevitable outcome given the disparity in understanding and intelligence among human beings. Had it been possible for the scholars of our generation to end such differences, the same would have been accomplished during the lifetime of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). But even they disagreed about a number of issues in jurisprudence. A scholar who judges by the literal meaning of a revealed text cannot be blamed, and the same goes for a scholar who derives a more specific and less literal ruling from a revealed text. Whoever is wrong in a given issue has no sin upon him for that, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
"If a judge rules, having tried his best (to arrive at the correct ruling), and is then correct, then he has two rewards. And if he judges having tried his best, but then is wrong, then he has one reward." [reported in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Muslim, Tirmidhi, ibn Majah, an-Nasai', and Musnad Imam Ahmed]al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) commented on this story saying: The deduction from this story that every mujtahid (scholar giving ruling) is always correct is far from being plain. The story only proves that one who tries his best and works diligently to arrive at a correct ruling should not be scolded, blamed, or reproached; or in other words he has not sinned. In a nutshell, the story describes how some Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) took to a literal understanding of what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, not minding that the time for prayer was finished, because they gave precedence to a later prohibition over a previous prohibition - the prohibition of delaying prayer until after its timing had ended. Their opinion was also based on the idea that, if one is busy in a military matter, one may delay the prayer, which is exactly what they had to do during the days of the trenches. Other Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did not take to a literal understanding of the prohibition, rather, they felt that the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave that command simply to encourage them to hurry and to arrive at Banu Quraizah as soon as possible. The conclusion drawn from this story by the majority of scholars is that one does not sin when one tries one's best to arrive at the correct view in a given matter; this is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reproached neither of the two groups. Had any of them sinned, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would have reproached specifically those who had sinned.
[The Noble Life of the Prophet, Vol. 3, p. 1418-1420.]
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