This point requires no proof for the People of Gnosis; we mention it only to strengthen the "Oppressed" (al-Mustaḍ‘afīn—those seeking the path).

The inward meaning of Wudu is the knowledge of the ranks of those whose stations are signified by the limbs commanded to be washed.

These ranks are the manifestations of the Intellect and its holy stations within the worlds of Sense and Holiness. The reason these specific limbs point to those lofty stations this is because man is a Microcosm (‘Ālam Ṣaghīr), a model of the Macrocosm (‘Ālam Kabīr). There is nothing in the two worlds—whether subtle (laṭīf) or dense (kathīf)—except that a likeness of it exists within him. He is the Middle Rank, the gatherer of Light and Darkness, for he shares the temperament of his body with the animals, and shares the intellect and knowledge with the Angels.

Thus, in the "Outward of the Inward" (Ẓāhir al-Bāṭin), he is the Meeting Point of the Two Seas (Majma‘ al-Baḥrayn) where the Spiritual and the Corporeal converge. Since he occupies this status,