(may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace) that he said:

“Allah created the angels from light, created Iblīs from a flame of fire, and created Adam from what has been described to you.”

The superiority of some created beings over others is not determined solely by what they were created from. A believer may be born to a disbeliever, and a disbeliever to a believer, as Noah’s son was born to him, and Abraham to Āzar.

Allah created Adam from clay. Once He had fashioned him, breathed into him of His spirit, caused the angels to prostrate before him, and favoured him above them by teaching him the names of all things, by creating him with His two hands, and in other ways, Adam and his righteous descendants are superior to the angels, even though the former were created from clay and the latter from light. This is a “major question,” discussed at length elsewhere. The superiority of Adam’s descendants rests upon reasons whose explanation would be lengthy here.

Their superiority will only become apparent when they enter the everlasting abode:

“And the angels will enter upon them from every gate, ‘Peace be upon you for your patient endurance. How excellent is the final home!’”

The human being is created from a drop of sperm, then from a lump of flesh, then from a clinging clot. He then passes from childhood to adulthood, and from one abode to another. His superiority does not become apparent in his initial stages, but only when he reaches his perfected state—unlike the angel, whose beginning and end are alike. This is where those who held the angels to be superior to the prophets erred: they considered the prophets’ condition while they were still passing through these stages, before attaining the ultimate perfection promised to them in the Hereafter.