Believing in All Prophets & Messengers

Accepting all and rejecting none

In Islam we have been commanded to believe in all prophets and messengers that have lived prior to Prophet Muhammad’s arrival. The Quran teaches this as being essential part of our faith: “The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers. They all believe in God, His angels, His scriptures, and His messengers.”[1] Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “From Adam to me, Allah sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets, of whom three hundred and fifteen were Messengers (i.e. entrusted with a book).”[2] We have not been given the name of each and every prophet and messenger therefore we cannot confirm if every renown and pious historical personality that lived prior to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was actually a prophet or no. Allah ﷻ says in the Quran: “There are messengers whose stories We have told you already and others We have not.”[3] Nevertheless, generally we accept all prophets including those mentioned in the bible and ones that are not, as long as the Quran and prophetic hadith confirms them, we consider their importance and continue to derive moral and ethical lessons from their stories. 

References:
[1] Al Quran 2:286
[2] Musnad Ahmad Hadith # 21257
[3] Al Quran 4:164

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