Is there an authentic Hadith that clarifies the number of prophets and messengers?

Allah sent messengers to every nation, naming some of them in the Quran, while many others were not mentioned, as Allah Almighty says: "And [We sent] messengers about whom We told you before, and messengers about whom We have not told you."

Scholars have differed on the number of prophets and messengers based on hadiths. Some have authenticated or deemed them good and acted upon them, while those who weakened them refrained from establishing a number. The hadiths that mention a specific number, such as Abu Dharr's hadith about 124,000 prophets and 313 messengers, are very weak and not authentic. The same applies to other hadiths that mention different numbers, such as the hadith of a thousand prophets or eight thousand prophets.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held that the hadiths mentioning the number of prophets are not authentic. Ibn Atiyyah stated that the Quran indicates the abundance of prophets without specifying their number. The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' issued a fatwa stating that only Allah knows the number of prophets, and those known are those mentioned in the Quran or whose accounts are authentically established in the Sunnah. Ibn Baz pointed out the weakness of the hadiths concerning the number, emphasizing that only Allah knows the number of prophets and messengers. Shaykh Abdullah ibn Jibreen was of the opinion that the hadiths mentioning the number are not free from weakness, and it is better to refrain from specifying a number. The obligation is to believe in those named by Allah and His Messenger in detail, and in the rest in general.