And Abraham—Allah caused the prophets who came after him to arise from his offspring, just as He, exalted be He, says about Abraham:
“ We granted him Isaac and Jacob, and We placed prophethood and the Scripture among his descendants. We rewarded him in this world, and in the Hereafter he will truly be among the righteous.” ⦗29:27⦘

Then, after mentioning that He had sent Noah and Abraham and had placed prophethood and the Scripture among their descendants, He said:
“ Then We sent Our messengers to follow in their footsteps, and We followed with Jesus son of Mary; We gave him the Gospel.” ⦗57:27⦘

Thus He makes it clear that He caused His messengers to succeed one another, and that He followed them with Jesus son of Mary, to whom He gave the Gospel. These were messengers who came before the Messiah, and the last of them is the Messiah himself. Nowhere does He state that He sent anyone from among the Messiah’s followers; rather, He informs us that He placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. How, then, can it be claimed that the intended “messengers whom He sent with clear proofs and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance” are the disciples, to the exclusion of the messengers He explicitly mentioned and dispatched before the Messiah?