I said, “O Prophet of Allah, was Adam a prophet?” He replied, “Yes—he was a prophet to whom Allah spoke. Allah created him with His Hand, breathed into him of His spirit, and then addressed him directly, saying, ‘O Adam.’” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, how many prophets were there in all?” He replied, “One hundred and twenty-four thousand; of them, three hundred and fifteen were messengers—a vast multitude.”

Aḥmad recorded it (5/265). ʿAlī ibn Yazīd, who is al-Alhānī, is weak; and Muʿān ibn Rifāʿah is weak in hadith, as stated in al-Taqrīb (The Epitome). Yet it appears that he was not alone in reporting it, for al-Haythamī said in al-Majmaʿ (The Compendium) (1/159): “It was narrated by Aḥmad and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr (The Major Collection), and its chain centers on ʿAlī ibn Yazīd, who is weak.”

Moreover, as mentioned above, al-Ṭabarānī added to the hadith under discussion: “He said, ‘How many generations were there between Noah and Abraham?’ He replied, ‘Ten generations.’” Al-Haythamī said (8/210): “It was narrated by al-Ṭabarānī, and all its narrators are narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ, apart from Aḥmad ibn Khulayd, who is trustworthy.”

This addition is corroborated by a hadith of Abū Hurayrah, traced back to the Prophet, worded as follows: “There were ten generations between Adam and Noah, peace be upon them, and ten generations between Noah and Abraham. May Allah bless them both.” Al-ʿUqaylī recorded it in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (The Weak Narrators) (p. 437): Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī narrated to us, saying: Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Anṭākī narrated to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us, saying: