al-Nisāʾ 4:163-166

Innā awḥaynā ilayka kamā awḥaynā ilā Nūḥin wa'l-nabiyyīna min baʿdih … · Wa rusulan qad qaṣaṣnāhum ʿalayka min qablu wa rusulan lam naqṣuṣhum ʿalayk, wa kallama'llāhu Mūsā taklīmā · Rusulan mubashshirīna wa mundhirīna li-allā yakūna li'l-nāsi ʿala'llāhi ḥujjatun baʿda'l-rusul

"We have revealed to you as We revealed to Noah (Nūḥ) and to the prophets after him… We sent messengers whose story We have recounted to you before, and messengers whose story We have not recounted to you. And God spoke to Moses directly. Messengers bearing good news and warning, so that after the messengers people should have no argument against God."

The verse counts separately the messengers whose story is recounted and those whose story is not.

And it must be recorded that this produces a note on method: the text says plainly that what it recounts is not the whole.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sentence itself: the wording of the verse also closes off talking about those not recounted — to give details about something announced as not recounted would be to add to the text.

Ḥujja — root ح-ج-ج: to head in a direction, to make for; and from there, a proof. The root was treated at al-Anʿām 6/80, al-Jāthiya 45/25 and Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/47. I rely on those treatments.

And the direction of the ground must be recorded: messengers are sent so that people should be left with no argument.

I record this as an observation about word order: the sentence ties the reason for the sending to the position of those addressed. And the qualification baʿda'l-rusul says that the argument can fall away only after a messenger.