Messengers Spoken of in the Quran

God has sent many messengers throughout human history. Only some of them are mentioned by name in the Quran:

[40:78] We have sent messengers before you - some of them we mentioned to you, and some we did not mention to you. No messenger can produce a miracle without GOD's authorization, in accordance with a specific, predetermined time.

The Quran also establishes that God sends a messenger to every nation and community:

[10:47] To each community, a messenger. After their messenger comes, they are judged equitably, without the least injustice.

This universality has an important implication: messengership as an institution did not end with Muhammad. The Quran confirms that Muhammad was the last prophet - the seal of the prophets (33:40) - but a prophet and a messenger are not identical designations, and the Quran does not state that Muhammad was the last messenger. Every nation has a messenger; nations have continued to exist since Muhammad's death and will continue until the end of the world.

The prophets named in the Quran

The Quran names a total of 22 individuals identified as prophets. Prophets, by definition, are also messengers. Eighteen of these are listed together in verses 83-86 of Chapter 6; the remaining are named elsewhere. Two of the twenty-two - Adam and Dhul-Kifl - require closer examination before their classification as prophets can be considered settled, and their cases are addressed below.

The 22 are:

• Adam (3:33, please see: Is Adam a Messenger?)

• Abraham (19:41, 33:7)

• Isaac (19:49, 37:112)

• Jacob (19:49)

• Noah (33:7)

• David (17:55)

• Solomon

• Job

• Joseph

• Moses (19:51, 33:7)

• Aaron (19:53)

• Zachariah

• John (3:39)

• Jesus (19:30, 33:7)

• Elias

• Ishmael (19:54)

• Elisha

• Jonah

• Lot

• Idris (19:56)

• Muhammad - "the seal of the prophets" (33:40)

• Dhul-Kifl (21:85, 38:48) - understood as the Prophet Ezekiel

Three messengers not designated as prophets

Beyond the 22 prophets, the Quran names three additional messengers who are not given the designation of prophet. Each is named explicitly as a messenger in Chapter 26:

• Hud (26:125)

• Saleh (26:143)

• Shu'aib (26:178)

This brings the total number of messengers mentioned by name in the Quran to 25.

A man of wisdom

The Quran also names one individual who is neither a messenger nor a prophet, but who is singled out for a distinct quality:

Luqman - described as one endowed with wisdom (31:12)

Luqman's inclusion is notable precisely because he falls outside the categories of prophet and messenger. He is presented as a wise man whose counsel is worth preserving - a reminder that divine wisdom is not the exclusive province of those formally designated as messengers.

A closer look at Adam and Dhul-Kifl

Two names on the list above warrant examination before their classification as prophets can be considered fully settled. Adam's case involves specific questions about his Quranic designation that are addressed in a dedicated section elsewhere. Dhul-Kifl's case is addressed here.

His status as a prophet is not stated explicitly in the Quran, but it is strongly supported by the contextual evidence of every passage in which he appears. That evidence is worth examining carefully.

The argument from context in Chapter 21

Chapter 21 is titled The Prophets. Its narrative moves through a succession of individuals whom God addresses or describes, and in every case where the identity of those individuals can be verified, they are prophets. The chapter includes Muhammad (21:7, 21:10), Moses and Aaron (21:48), Abraham (21:51), Lot (21:71, 21:74), Noah (21:76), David and Solomon (21:78), Job (21:83), Ishmael (21:85), Idris (21:85), Jonah (21:87), Zachariah (21:89), John (21:90), and Jesus (21:91).

Notably absent from this chapter are Hud, Saleh, and Shu'aib - the three men named elsewhere in the Quran as messengers but never designated as prophets. Their absence from a chapter devoted to prophets is itself significant: it suggests the chapter is making a consistent distinction between prophets and non-prophet messengers, and that the distinction was deliberate.

Dhul-Kifl appears in verse 21:85, grouped directly alongside Ishmael and Idris, both of whom are confirmed prophets. The three are mentioned together and described in the same terms. If the chapter consistently features prophets as its central figures, and if Dhul-Kifl is placed among them on equal footing with two confirmed prophets, the most coherent reading is that he shares their status.

The argument from context in Chapter 38

The same pattern holds in Chapter 38. The individuals named in this chapter are David (38:17), Solomon (38:34), Job (38:41), Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (38:45), and Ishmael and Elisha (38:48) - all prophets. Dhul-Kifl appears in 38:48 alongside Ishmael and Elisha, embedded in a chapter whose named figures are without exception prophets. The group that includes Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the preceding verse is described as being among the best and most righteous - and Dhul-Kifl is placed in the same company.

Across both chapters, the pattern is consistent: Dhul-Kifl is never mentioned in isolation, never placed alongside figures of lesser or ambiguous standing, and never introduced in a context that would suggest he is simply a patient or wise man rather than a prophet. His consistent grouping with confirmed prophets, in chapters that otherwise feature only prophets as their protagonists, constitutes a strong contextual argument for his prophetic status. It is a classification that the structure of the Quran itself appears to endorse.

The identification with Ezekiel

The understanding that Dhul-Kifl is the prophet Ezekiel draws on both the contextual evidence within the Quran and the record of the Hebrew scriptures. The Book of Ezekiel opens with God's commissioning of the prophet in terms that resonate with the Quranic pattern of prophetic appointment:

Ezekiel 2:4-5

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says." And whether they listen or fail to listen - for they are a rebellious people - they will know that a prophet has been among them.

The identification is not linguistically certain - Dhul-Kifl's name is not a direct Arabic rendering of Ezekiel - but the contextual and cross-scriptural evidence, taken together, makes the identification plausible and the prophetic classification well-supported. Until clearer evidence to the contrary emerges, classifying Dhul-Kifl among the prophets is the reading most consistent with how the Quran presents him in every passage where his name appears.