Page 221 - Neglected Arabia (1911-1915) Vol II

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What, then, has been his influence on the Arab?' He has affected
1. The Arab's Accessibility as a Man. i
Dynamite unconflned loses its dynamic. Jesus Christ taught that
the Kingdom of Heaven is as a leaven or as a seed. We may spread \
the Bible broadcast, and preach ourselves hoarse, but if the subject
of our endeavor is inaccessible, and will not listen or will not think,
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we also lose much of our dynamic. No short cut will bring us any i
nearer the consummation, be it Milial theories, or hopes for a mass \
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movement or widespread witness bearing. But if the Moslem heart i ,
is open, and since Christ's Gospel is dynamite, then there remains noth­
ing to the problem but detail. ! •
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The Arab as such, and no thanks to Mohammed, is hospitable. 5
In the course of rather extensive travels in Arabia, I have never- I
lacked bread nor water nor shelter. If there were time and space, 1 •
I could regale the reader with stories ad inflnitum of open doors, and e
hearty welcomes, and lavish entertainment such as made me leave li
the place shame-facedly and feeling under a lasting debt of gratitude.
And the hospitality is such as costs, it costs money, and it costs effort, i
and the Arab cheerfully and loyally assumes the consequences. Once l
having eaten his bread and salt, he must convey you to the next tribe i
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in safety. Once at the peril of his life, a mere stripling of a guide
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given me by a sheikh, stood off twenty others who thirsted for my r
blood. Once again, a six year old child in the saddle before me, P f
proclaimed to ail that I was to be unmolested as long as I was in the >
borders of his tribe. Then again the Arab is of a discerning turn of 1 l
mind, with a keen knowledge of human nature. He surmises your
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answer even before it has framed itself upon your lips. And he is
dignified, or proud, if you please, and loyal. All these are a great f
asset to the Gospel messenger, and yet all of these are racial charac­
teristics. Mohammed took them and in the Koran and Traditions
fostered them, though with this qualification that though friendships
became more binding, hatreds became more implacable. i
When we come to the good qualities of the Arab which Islam had !i I
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spoiled, we notice first of all the quality of mind- The Arab has a i 5
splendid mind. Man for man, I think the Arabs have a greater » ; *
capacity for spiritual thinking than any others I have met, of thinking
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acutely and even daringly. But into their psychical world fell the !
blight of “There is no god but Allah." and barrenness has been the 3 u
result. The first word of the Moslem creed is No. and it has negatived
and petrified all his thoughts. It is claimed that Mohammed by thus I
proclaiming the unity of God has conferred a lasting benefit. After : :
nearly twelve years of missionary effort, I have not found it so. Give
i an incipient builder an inch-rule and he will build in inches. Give a
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rugged mind a small, simple, axiomatic premise and that mind will
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become small and simple, and spend its ruggedness in fanaticism.
He will moan, scream, gurgle, prattle “There is no god but Allah ^
from the cradle to the grave, and think he is religious, regardless of
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the fact that the Devil makes the same confession. It is a marvel
that a man like Ghazzali, with his splendid mind, never called in i
question the second clause of his creed. Mohammed is the prophet of l
Allah.

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