قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ ۖ خَلَقْتَنِى مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُۥ مِن طِينٍ
Qaala ana khairum minah; khalaqtanee min naarinw wa khalaqtahoo min teen
Powiedział: "Ja jestem lepszy od niego: Ty stworzyłeś mnie z ognia, a jego stworzyłeś z gliny."
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire, and you created him from clay."
His claim to be made of fire is the main textual anchor for one of the oldest disputes about him: 18:50 states plainly that he was of the jinn, and 55:15 has the jinn made from a smokeless flame. Some early commentators still held he was an angel who fell, since the command was addressed to the angels and he is named as the exception to it. The question was never closed, and this line is where the evidence for the jinn reading sits.