Brother, I agree with you that their was a dispute on minor issues between some of the muslims at that time (which happens everywhere in all socieities), but still you see, in general, they were role models in terms of practicing Islamic teachings.
Brother, I dont think they were minor issues. minor issues dont result in the prophets son in law and the prophets wife squaring off in battle.
It does not result in the assassination of calpihs
it does nto result in attempts to wipe the prophets family off the planet.
All nonislamic forces were afraid of attacking them, and they made developments in all fields of life. Even if they had disputes their intentions were sincere (in most of the cases). In most of the cases both the opposing parties thought that they were doing it for Allah. (I am not talking about Yazid, but other disputes between pious muslims).
Actually, while militarily they were feared in immediate surroundings, much of the scientific evelopment came later.
yaar, honestly speaking, how many things have you written an attributed to the prophet? a hundred? a few dozen...no..zero..right. well it was muslims of that era that added the ahadeeth. yes I know that it is said that they were added by others, but not all by any stretch of imagination.
the good muslims of that era, were probably the best, and the bad muslims of that era were probably the worst ever. How can one who had the personal blessing of seeing the prophet, listening to him, and then go and do things that hurt the faith, add stuff, hurt the prophet's family, hurt his closest allies, violate the trust he had in them.