Prophetic protection cannot be reduced to a single unqualified statement covering every subsidiary dispute. The principal distinctions are:
1. Disbelief: Protection before and after appointment is explicitly affirmed.
2. Deliberate false transmission: Its exclusion safeguards the truthfulness of revelation.
3. Intentional major sins: The majority are reported as excluding them.
4. Minor lapses and inadvertence: Historical views distinguish types, conditions and exceptions.
When evaluating a reported incident, consider reliability, then meaning, followed by timing and intention, and finally its effect on prophetic trustworthiness. That sequence helps resolve apparently conflicting reports without collapsing essential distinctions.