He attended a gathering with ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz while a number of people were present. ʿUmar said, “No creature is more honored in Allah’s sight than a noble member of the children of Adam,” and he cited as evidence the Almighty’s words:
“Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds—those are the best of all creation” (Q 98:7).

Umayyah ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd agreed with him, whereupon ʿIrāk ibn Mālik remarked, “No one is more honored by Allah than His angels; they are the custodians of His abode and His messengers to His prophets.” As proof he recited:
“Your Lord only forbade you this tree lest you become angels or become immortals” (Q 7:20).

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz then asked Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī, “What do you say, Abū Ḥamzah?” He replied, “Allah honored Adam: He created him with His own Hand, breathed into him of His spirit, commanded His angels to prostrate to him, and from his descendants made the prophets and messengers—those whom the angels visit.” Thus he agreed with ʿUmar’s ruling but drew on other evidence.

The weakest proof advanced is that taken from the verse, “Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds…” (Q 98:7), because its purport is not restricted to human beings. Allah attributes faith to the angels in His saying, “and they believe in Him” (Q 40:7), and likewise to the jinn: “When we heard the guidance, we believed in it” (Q 72:13) and “Among us are those who have submitted” (Q 72:14).

I say: The finest evidence on this issue is what ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī related from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr—both in a marfūʿ (prophetic) and a mawqūf (companion) form, the latter being sounder—who said:

“When Allah created Paradise the angels said, ‘Our Lord, allot this to us so that we may eat from it and drink, for You have created the world for the children of Adam.’ Allah replied, ‘I shall not make the righteous offspring of the one whom I fashioned with My own Hands equal to the one to whom I merely said, “Be,” and he was.’”

Chapter: The Creation of the Jinn and the Story of Satan

Allah, Exalted is He, says:
“He created man from dry clay like earthenware, and He created the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire. So which of your Lord’s favors will you two deny?” (Q 55:14-16)

He also says:
“We certainly created man from dried clay of dark mud molded, and the jinn We created before from scorching fire.” (Q 15:26-27)

Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿIkrimah, Mujāhid, al-Ḥasan, and many others explained the phrase “from a smokeless flame of fire” (Q 55:15) as “from the tip of the flame,” and in another report, “from its purest and finest part.”

We have already mentioned, through the chain of al-Zuhrī → ʿUrwah → ʿĀʾishah, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The angels were created from light, the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire, and Adam from that which has been described to you.”

Muslim recorded this ḥadīth.