rontiers. It is
more or less an amorphous mass, with a central nucleus, the seat of an
authority which shades off into ill-defined, anarchic independence. Of
course, in the past half-century, most Mohammedan states have tried to
remodel themselves on Western lines, but the traditional tendency is
typified by Afghanistan, where the tribes of the Indian north-west
frontier, though nominally Afghan, enjoy practical independence and have
frequently conducted private wars of their own against the British which
the Ameer has disavowed and for which the British have not held him
responsible.

Similarly with the term "Nationality." In Moslem eyes, a man need not
be born or formally naturalized to be a member of a certain Moslem
"Nationality." Every Moslem is more or less at home in every part of
Islam, so a man may just happen into a particular country and thereby
become at once, if he wishes, a national in good standing. For
example: "Egypt for the Egyptians" does not mean precisely what we
think. Let a Mohammedan of Algiers or Damascus settle in Cairo.
Nothing prevents him from acting, and being considered as, an
"Egyptian Nationalist" in the full sense of the term. This is because
Islam has always had a distinct idea of territorial as well as
spiritual unity. All predominantly Mohammedan lands are believed by
Moslems to constitute "Dar-ul-Islam,"[167] which is in a sense the
joint possession of all Moslems and which all Moslems are jointly
obligated to defend. That is the reason why alien encroachments on any
Moslem land are instantly resented by Moslems at the opposite end of
the Moslem world, who could have no possible material interest in the
matter.

We are now better able to understand how many Moslem thinkers, combining
the Western concept of nationality with the traditional idea of
Dar-ul-Islam, have evolved a new synthesis of the two, expressed by the
term "Pan-Islamic Nationalism." This trend of thought is well set forth
by an Indian Moslem, who writes: "In the West, the whole science of
government rests on the axiom that the essential divisions of humanity
are determined by considerations of race and geography; but for
Orientals these ideas are very far from being axioms. For them, humanity
divides according to religious beliefs. The unity is no longer the
nation or the State, but the 'Millah.'[168] Europeans see in this a
counterpart to their Middle Ages--a stage which Islam should pass
through on its way to mo