The real quality is probably too
subtle for any simple praise or blame; we can only say that there
is in the wandering Moslem a curious kind of limited common sense;
which might even be called a short-sighted common sense.
But however we define it, that is what can really be traced through Arab
conquests and Arab culture in all its ingenuity and insufficiency.
That is the note of these nomads in all the things in which they
have succeeded and failed. In that sense they are constructive
and in that sense unconstructive; in that sense artistic and in that
sense inartistic; in that sense practical and in that sense unpractical;
in that sense cunning and in that sense innocent. The curtains they
would hang round Stonehenge might be of beautifully selected colours.
The banners they waved from Stonehenge might be defended with glorious
courage and enthusiasm. The prayers they recited in Stonehenge
might be essentially worthy of human dignity, and certainly a great
improvement on its older associations of human sacrifice. All this
is true of Islam and the idolatries and negations are often replaced.
But they would not have built Stonehenge; they would scarcely,
so to speak, have troubled to lift a stone of Stonehenge.
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