Seek excuses for your brother

Salam aleikum brothers and sisters.
I have heard before that we are supposed to seek excuses for 'our brothers'..our fellow Muslims if we hear something negative being said.

I am currently reading a book by Shaikh Alee Hasan Allee Abdul Hameed called the Islamic Personality.
While he has a one-page chapter entitled : The Muslim seeks to Make Excuses for Other Muslims...he uses the following hadith to support the idea we should do this:

'From Sa'd ibn 'Ubaadah (ra) who said that Allah's Messenger (saw) said:
...and there is no one who loves to accept an excuse more than Allah and because of this he sent the bringers of good news and the warners'

The Sheikh then goes on to say there is a saying 'Seek an excuse for your brother' but that this is not an actual hadith as quoted by some people.

I feel it is right to defend our brothers and sisters of our Ummah if we hear someone making a negative comment...but I am often at a loss at what to say...

For example:
People say to me things like:
"Do you drink alcohol or eat pork? Cos I know Muslims that do"....
"Even if its right for you to wear Hijab, why are lots of the born Muslims not wearing hijab then?' (i am a revert)

People are always pointing out the failings of other Muslims to me, and I feel frustrated cos I can never think of things to say to defend those they talk about.

Like telling them what the law is doesn't help, cos it just reinforces that the Muslims they see doing wrong ARE doing wrong....

So what should we say?

Any ideas?

Alsalamu Alikum wa wb
I guess you're mixing in applying the Hadith of seeking Seventy and some excuses for your brothers, when someone talks about Muslims not wearing Hijab or Muslims drinking wine or dating or whatever sin they might do, they are talking about behavior without referring to persons, your duty to show the wrong of that behavior without specifying persons, Allah ordered women to wear Hijab, forbid Muslims from drinking wine or eating pork, you follow Allah commandments, others who don’t, disobeying Allah commandments, it does not mean that some Muslims doing bad that all Muslims should do the same bad, not all Muslims will go to Jannah, some will be punished in hellfire before entering Jannah because of their great sins.

Seeking seventy and some excuses for your brothers, you use it when something of the truth is hidden from you or if your brothers gave you a legal excuse for their actions. Example: your waiting for a friend and she is late, then you should seek an excuses for her lateness and not hurry to build decisions before listening to her excuses, later if she came and told you that she were late because her mom asked her to do something before her going out and that's what made her late, then you have to believe her excuse.

Wassalam

It would explain a lot of the defensiveness that goes on.