in faith, and do not place in our hearts any resentment toward those who believe. Our Lord, You are indeed Kind and Merciful.”
(al-Hashr: 10)

There is no doubt that whoever strives to seek the truth and the religion through the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but errs in some of this, will have his error forgiven by Allah. This fulfills the supplication that Allah answered for His Prophet and the believers when they said:

“Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake.”
(al-Baqarah: 286)

As for someone who follows his own suppositions and desires and begins denouncing an opponent for an error which the latter, after striving to reach the truth, believed to be correct, but which is an innovation contrary to the Sunnah, a comparable charge—or a greater or lesser one—necessarily applies to those among his own associates whom he esteems. Few among later generations are free of such errors, given the widespread confusion and inconsistency and people’s remoteness from the light of prophethood and the sun of the divine message, through which guidance and correctness are attained and doubt and uncertainty are dispelled from hearts.

Hence, you find many later scholars of the various groups contradicting themselves concerning such foundational principles and their implications. They affirm a position consistent with the Sunnah, yet deny some of its necessary implications without realizing that these follow from it. They also assert what contradicts that position without realizing the contradiction. They uphold propositions that entail a position contrary to what they themselves have affirmed of the Sunnah. They may even declare those who disagree with them over that contrary position and the propositions entailing it to be unbelievers. Thus, what their position amounts to is that