In the religion of Islam, the way of righteousness is to believe in God; taking Him at His word and obeying His commands and one of the rulings He commanded is to believe in His messengers and to make no distinction among all His messengers. This is because mankind is one brotherhood.
S21:92 Verily, this brotherhood of yours is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore, serve Me (and no other).
The Islamic article of faith is clearly manifest in the Qur’an.
S2:177 It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards east or west; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.
The main reason to believe in His messengers is as they brought us the divine messages.
S4:136 O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Messenger and the scripture which He sent to those before him. Any who deny Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray.
During the past Allah made a covenant with the Children of Israel to believe in all His messengers.
S5:12 Allah did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel, and we appointed twelve captains among them. And Allah said: “I am with you: if ye (but) establish regular prayers, practice regular charity, believe in my messengers, honor and assist them, and loan to Allah a beautiful loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to gardens with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resist faith, he hath truly wandered from the path or rectitude.”
And in the Qur’an, the book of the last messenger, Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh), mankind was commanded to believe and follow him.
S7:158 Say: “O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belong the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That gives both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that ye may be guided.”
All the messengers were sent with the same mission that they were to warn and give glad tidings to mankind.
S6:48 We send the messengers only to give good news and to warn: so those who believe and mend (their lives), upon them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
S18:56 We only send the messengers to give Glad Tidings and to give warnings: But the unbelievers dispute with vain argument, in order therewith to weaken the truth, and they treat My Signs as a jest, as also the fact that they are warned!
Furthermore, Allah justified His action by sending messengers to all nations because ultimately nobody can give any excuse of not receiving the divine messages.
S4:165 Messengers who gave good news as well as warning, that mankind, after the coming of the messengers, should have no plea against Allah: For Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
Ultimately in the hereafter those who failed in this world to follow the right path will admit and cannot deny that they have been warned.
S67 6-11 For those who reject their Lord (and Cherisher) is the Penalty of Hell: and evil is (such), destination. When they are cast therein, they will hear the terrible drawing in of its breath even as it blazes forth, almost bursting with fury: Every time a Group is cast therein, its Keepers will ask, “Did no Warner come to you?” They will say: “Yes indeed; a Warner did come to us, but we rejected him and said, ‘(Allah) never sent down any (Message): ye are nothing but an egregious delusion!'” They will further say: “Had we listened or used our intelligence, we should not now be among the Companions of the Blazing Fire!” They will then confess their sins: but far will be Forgiveness from the Companions of the Blazing Fire!
Allah is impartial He had been sending messengers to all the nations in this world and no community had been neglected.
S16:36 “And We have indeed sent a Messenger to every Ummah (nation) saying: “Worship Allah (Alone), and shun the Taghut (all false deities)” Then among them were some whom Allah guided, and among them were some who deserved to be left to stray. So, travel through the land and see the end of those who denied the truth”
Nevertheless, the examples given in the Qur’an is ample to show the various communities which has received their messengers like the people of Noah, Hud of the Aad, Salleh of the Thamud and many more listed in it but some of the messengers their stories was not told in the Qur’an.
S40:78 And We have already sent messengers before you. Among them are those whose stories We have related to you, and among them are those whose stories We have not related to you. And it was not for any messenger to bring a sign except by permission of Allah. So, when the command of Allah comes, it will be concluded in truth, and the falsifiers will thereupon lose all.
However, it is Allah’s prerogative whom He chooses to be His messengers and it is His prerogative to rank them according to His criteria.
S3:179 Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which ye are now, until He separates what is evil from what is good nor will He disclose to you the secrets of the Unseen. But He chooses His Messengers whom He pleases. So, believe in Allah. And His messengers: And if ye believe and do right, ye have a reward without measure.
All Mighty Allah, He is also the One who can rank His messengers as He pleases.
S2:253 Those messengers We endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them Allah spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honor); to Jesus the son of Mary We gave clear (Signs), and strengthened him with the holy spirit. If Allah had so willed, succeeding generations would not have fought among each other, after clear (Signs) had come to them, but they (chose) to wrangle, some believing and others rejecting. If Allah had so willed, they would not have fought each other; but Allah fulfilled His plan.
S17:55 And it is your Lord that knows best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: We did bestow on some prophets more gifts than on others: and We gave to David the Psalms.
This is Allah He is God and He can say of His favorite messengers by ranking them but this is His prerogative and is absolutely His privilege but it is impermissible for any human to do as He did.
For mankind Allah commanded those who believe to treat all of His messengers as equal and that they should believe, honor and to follow their examples as depicted in Allah’s guidance in the Qur’an. The command is clear to be recited.
S2:136 Say ye: “We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah in Islam.”
And as a covenant to Allah, His messenger pledged to obey this command and as believers we should be following his example by making a similar declaration.
S2:285 The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. “We make no distinction between one and another of His messengers.” And they say: “We hear, and we obey: We seek Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys.”
These people who believe and make no distinction among the messengers Allah promise them of their due rewards.
S4:152 To those who believe in Allah and His apostles and make no distinction between any of the apostles, we shall soon give their due rewards: for Allah is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful.
Thus, since those who make no distinction among the messengers will receive the rewards from their Lord then those who disobey by making distinction are committing sin whether they realized it or not.
S3:84 Say: “We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in the Books given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to Allah do we bow our will in Islam.”
S4:150-152 Those who deny Allah and His apostles, and those who wish to separate Allah from His apostles, saying: “We believe in some but reject others”: And those who wish to take a course midway. They are in truth equally unbelievers; and we have prepared for unbelievers a humiliating punishment. To those who believe in Allah and His messengers and make no distinction between any of the messengers, we shall soon give their due rewards: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
S21:50 And this is a blessed Message which We have sent down: will ye then reject it?
S6:155 And this [Qur’an] is a Book We have revealed which is blessed, so follow it and fear Allah that you may receive mercy.
Pondering with Saifuddin's index 