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The question

How many messengers are mentioned in the history of Islam in detail?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · imported Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The Holy Quran and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet are the most important historical sources relied upon by Muslims. Eighteen messengers are mentioned in Surah Al-An'am, but this is not an exhaustive list, as Allah Almighty has mentioned other messengers in other verses. Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir compiled the names of the prophets mentioned in the Quran, and their number reached 25 prophets and messengers. As for knowing the total number of messengers and prophets not mentioned in the Quran, it does not seem possible for two reasons: First, Allah Almighty concealed the stories of many of them from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and did not inform him about them. Second, there is a disturbance and disagreement in the narrations concerning this matter, which, despite some later scholars deeming them sound, are in fact weak, as Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah transmitted from Imam Ahmad and Muhammad bin Nasr that the Hadith of Abu Dharr regarding the specific number of messengers was not authentically established with them.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · imported

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Ftawy
Original fatwa ID
1880
Imported
Translation status
Source text, unreviewed
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