How Many Prophets Are Mentioned in the Quran?

[Reader Questions]

Dear Sir,

Salaam Alaykum,

How many actual prophets as per Quran - Dr. Zakir Naik 25 , Dr.Rashad 19?

regards

[Joseph Islam]

May peace be with you.

In my humble opinion, neither of the numbers that you have shared are correct from a Quranic perspective.

For example, 18 prophets have been explicitly mentioned in verses 6:83-89 separately from Prophet Muhammad (33:40). Furthermore, Idris is also mentioned as a prophet in verse 19:56. This makes a total of 20 prophets. These prophets are also by default, messengers (unlike the traditional view which reverses this understanding without warrant from the Quran). [1]

If you also add the 3 named messengers (Hud, Shoaib and Saleh) who are not identified as prophets by the Quran, you have a total of 23 messengers. 

Adam, Dhul-Kifl and Luqman are also mentioned but neither as prophets nor messengers.

I hope that helps, God willing.
Joseph.


REFERENCE:

[1] END OF PROPHETHOOD - CONTINUATION OF MESSENGERS?
http://quransmessage.com/articles/end%20of%20prophethood%20FM3.htm