Number of Prophets not equal to the number of nations
24-1-2016 | IslamWeb
Question:
As I know, a Messenger is the one on whom Allaah has descended the commandments and who is required to lay down the commandments on the people. In one of the hadiths, Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, stated, "There are 313 or 319 messengers that Allaah has sent to different nations." In the Quranic verse mentioned bellow, it says that Allaah sent messengers to every nation, so it means that there are 313 or 319 nations in the world which Allaah sent messengers to. Is this true? {And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger,} [Quran 16:36]
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Previously, in fatwa 300025, we highlighted the difference between a Prophet and a Messenger, underlining that a Messenger is the one to whom a new legislation was revealed while a Prophet is the one who was sent to confirm and follow a previous legislation.
Abu Tharr 
narrated that the Prophet said, "There were 100,000 Prophets, among whom were 313 Messengers." Some scholars classified this hadeeth as , as Ibn Taymiyyah 
stated in his book Al-Jawaab As-Saheeh, while some other scholars classified it as dha'eef (weak).
It has been stated in the Quran that Allaah sent a Messenger to each and every nation; He says (what means): {And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, (saying:) Worship Allaah and avoid Taghoot...} [Quran 16:36]
Allaah, The Exalted, also says (what means):{...And there was no nation but that there had passed within it a warner.}[Quran 35:24]
Ibn Katheer commented on the verse saying, "This verse means that there was never any nation among the sons of Adam but that Allaah sent warners to them and left them with no excuse."
Shaykh Ibn ʻUthaymeen wrote in his explanation of At-Tawheed (book), "We know that Allaah sent a warner to each and every nation; He sent a messenger to each and every people so that none would have a plea against Him after sending the messengers ... He says (what means): {(We sent) messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allaah after the messengers. And ever is Allaah Exalted in Might and Wise.} [Quran 4:165]"
This does not essentially mean that the number of nations is equal to the number of Prophets and Messengers; more than one messenger could have been sent to the same nation, such as the Children of Israel, to whom Allaah sent Moosa (Moses), Haaroon (Aaron), Daawood (David), Sulaymaan (Solomon), Zakariyya (Zacharias), Yahya (John), and ʻEesa (Jesus). Ibn Taymiyyah wrote, "It is known that the largest number of Prophets were sent to the Children of Israel; Prophet Moosa (Moses) was sent to them, and many other Prophets were sent to them afterwards with the same legislation (in the Torah) as is, without modification. Then, Allaah, The Exalted, sent them Prophet ʻEesa (Jesus) with a new legislation in which some laws in the Torah were modified." [Al-Jawaab As-Saheeh 2/100]
It has been stated in a hadeeth that the number of nations was seventy. Hakeem ibn Muʻaawiyah ibn Haydah narrated on the authority of his father that the Prophet said, "You are the final of seventy nations; you are the best and most honored among them to Allaah." [Ahmad, At-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah, and Al-Haakim - Al-Arnaa’oot graded it hasan (good)]
Allaah knows best.