Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:26

Salsal (صلصال): Dried clay that rings when struck, though it is not fired; if it were fired, it would be pottery (fakhkhar). It is said: if you imagine a sustained sound in its ringing, it is salil; if you imagine a reverberation, it is salsalah. It is also said to be a reduplication of salla (to stink).

Hama' (حمأ): Black, altered mud.

Masnun (مسنون): Shaped/formed, from the "shape of the face" (sunnat al-wajh). It is also said to mean poured and cast—meaning, the form of a human was cast just as figures are cast from molten substances into their molds. Others say it means "stinking," derived from the act of rubbing a stone; the substance that flows between them is sanin, which is always foul-smelling.

{From Hama'} is an adjective for salsal, meaning: He created him from salsal that originated from hama'.

{Masnun} in the sense of "shaped" is an adjective for salsal, as if the hama' were poured and shaped into a hollow human effigy, then dried until it rang when tapped, and subsequently transformed into another substance.

{Al-Jann (الجان)}: For the Jinn, as "Adam" is for mankind. It is also said to be Iblis. Al-Hasan and ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd read it as al-Ja’n (with a hamza).

{From the fire of the Samum (نار السموم)}: From the fire of intense heat that penetrates the pores. It is said that this samum is one-seventieth of the samum of the Fire from which Allah created the Jinn.

{And when your Lord said to the angels, "I am creating a human being from clay of altered black mud. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down to him in prostration." So the angels prostrated, all of them entirely, except Iblis; he refused to be with those who prostrated. [Allah] said, "O Iblis, what is the matter with you that you are not with those who prostrated?" He said, "Never would I prostrate to a human whom You created from clay of altered black mud." [Allah] said, "Then get out of it, for indeed, you are expelled. And indeed, upon you is the curse until the Day of Recompense." He said, "My Lord, then reprieve me until the Day they are resurrected." [Allah] said, "So indeed, you are of those reprieved until the Day of the time well-known." [Iblis] said, "My Lord, because You have put me in error, I will surely make [disobedience] attractive to them on earth, and I will mislead them all, except, among them, Your chosen servants." [Allah] said, "This is a path [binding] upon Me, straight. Indeed, My servants - no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators. And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates; for every gate is of them a portion designated."}