I was looking for the reference for the number of messangers sent to mankind. Where in the Islam this number was first mentioned?
Also how many prophets Bible talks about and how many prophets Jews/Christians believe to be sent to mankind?
The Prophet (saw) said there were 124,000 prophets in answer to questions posed by Abu Amama and Abu Dharr al Ghifari... the reports are recorded in Musnad Imam Ahmed, Sahih of Ibn Hibban (=he graded it sahih), Mustadrak of al Hakim (=he graded it sahih), al Tabarani (=Hafiz Haythami graded Tabarani's isnad weak), al Bayhaqi in al Asma wa al Sifat, al Suyuti in al Dur al Manthur, Ibn Kathir in al Bidaya wa al Nihaya (=he points out weaknesses in the isnads), Tafsir ibn Kathir and Tafsir al Qurtubi where the latter said: "This [Abu Dharr's report] is the most authentic of what is narrated on this."
Those who authentic the hadith may have done so based on a combination of its isnads even though, as it would seem, each isnad separately could have one or more weaknesses... it likely needs further study... Allah knows best.
Its more or less. Not that exact number as it is not told to the mankind what the exact number of messngers was sent by Allah. :)