How can one reconcile the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

Eid Abbasi : How can one reconcile the two statements of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): , and the other hadith: ?

The Shaykh : It appears to me—and Allah knows best in the answer—that the hadith is: “There is no prophet except…” What is the text of the hadith?

Eid Abbasi : It was sent, .

The Shaykh : “There is no prophet sent by Allah except that there were among his people those who followed his guidance”; this is one of the general texts that is specified by the other hadith, in which it was presented to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that a prophet was with no one with him; that is: the general rule—and this is a certainty based on observation and sight—is that when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent the prophets, there must be those who respond to their call. However, the number of responders may be few or many. This does not negate that there were some individual prophets to whom no one responded. Therefore, the first hadith is understood in terms of the general case of callers and those called, and prophets and those called; generally, those called respond to the call of the prophets because it is a call to truth; with the difference—as we said—in the number being many or few. But sometimes, no one responds to the messenger at all, and this is part of the trial and testing from Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Therefore, the reconciliation between the two hadiths is by the rule of “applying the general to the specific,” and thus the difficulty is resolved. This does not pose a difficulty for students of knowledge; because it is like His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He), for example: . This is exactly like if someone asked: How do you reconcile the verse with his saying (peace be upon him): ? The answer is: “Forbidden to you is dead meat, except…” and “blood, except…”; meaning this text is general, the Qur’anic text is a general text from which what is mentioned in the hadith is specified. Similarly, the general principle is that every prophet sent by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) had those who responded to him, except we take the exception from the second hadith: ; so it is general and specific, this is the reconciliation.