وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ
Wa laqad khalaqnal insaana min salsaalim min hama im masnoon
We created man out of dried clay formed from dark mud-
And we created the human being from dried clay, from dark mud shaped into form.
This description of the material — dried clay, dark mud given shape — is repeated word for word three times in the surah: here as God's own account, again when the angels are told what is coming, and a third time from Iblis, who gives it back as his reason for refusing. The same phrase ends up carrying both the making of a human and the argument against honoring one.