Al-Hijr 15:26

The Substances from which Mankind and Jinns were created

Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Qatadah said that Salsal means dry mud. The apparent meaning is similar to the Ayah:

خَلَقَ الإِنسَـنَ مِن صَلْصَـلٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ - وَخَلَقَ الْجَآنَّ مِن مَّارِجٍ مِّن نَّارٍ

(He created man (Adam) from sounding clay like the potter's clay, And He created the Jinns from a smokeless flame of fire.) (55:14-15) It was also reported from Mujahid that,

صَلْصَـلٍ

(dried (sounding) clay) means "putrid", but it is more appropriate to interpret an Ayah with another Ayah.

مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ

(of altered mud) means the dried clay that comes from mud, which is soil. "Altered" here means smooth.

وَالْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـهُ مِن قَبْلُ

(And the Jinn, We created earlier) means before creating humans.

مِن نَّارِ السَّمُومِ

(from the smokeless flame of fire.) Ibn `Abbas said, "It is the smokeless flame that kills." Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi said that Shu`bah narrated to them from Abu Ishaq, who said: "I visited `Umar Al-Asamm when he was sick, and he said: `Shall I not tell you a Hadith that I heard from `Abdullah bin Mas`ud He said: `This smokeless flame is one of the seventy parts of the smokeless fire from which the Jinn where created. Then he recited,

وَالْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ السَّمُومِ

(And the Jinn, We created earlier from the smokeless flame of fire)."' The following is found in the Sahih,

«خُلِقَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ مِنْ نُورٍ، وَخُلِقَتِ الْجَانُّ مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ، وَخُلِقَ آدَمُ مِمَّا وُصِفَ لَكُم»

(The angels were created from light, the Jinn were created from a smokeless flame of fire, and Adam was created from that which has been described to you.) The Ayah is intended to point out the noble nature, good essence and pure origin of Adam.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged, English).