regarding the authenticity and meaning of the hadith: (I am the first of the prophets in creation, and the last of them in resurrection)

The Shaykh : ... or as he said.
The first part of the hadith: is a well-known hadith, and it is among the hadiths of "Al-Jami' al-Saghir," and it is well known that it is a hadith with a weak chain of narration; it does not serve as proof, and it is not permissible to attribute it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) because it is not established. This is with regard to its chain of narration. As for its text, it is not conceivable that the Messenger (peace be upon him) would say that he is the first of the prophets in creation, for the first of the prophets, as we know, is Adam (peace be upon him), who is the father of all mankind; so how is it conceivable that his grandson, after hundreds of ancestors, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, was created before his first ancestor Adam (peace be upon him)?
Some people may interpret such a hadith to mean that the intended "creation" is spiritual creation. We say: with this meaning, the hadith is free from apparent anomaly, but this also requires proof that the Messenger (peace be upon him) was created in the spiritual sense before all the prophets. This is a matter of the unseen that requires proof, and there is nothing indicating it, except his (peace be upon him) saying, which is established from him: , and in another narration: . This is a correct meaning; that is, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wrote the prophethood of the Messenger (peace be upon him) before the completion of the creation of Adam (peace be upon him).
, this is the wording of the authentic hadith narrated in "Musnad Imam Ahmad" and other well-known books of the Sunnah. The hadith became famous among the Sufis with the wording: ; not Adam, nor water, nor clay. The hadith with this wording is among the fabricated hadiths, and its fabrication is well known to the scholars. So, , and in the other wording: , this is authentic. As for the claim that he was the first of the prophets in creation and the last of them in resurrection, this is a weak hadith. As for the rest of the hadith, which is: , I do not know it as a hadith, and I think it is an explanation by some of the commentators or annotators on the weak hadith.