Grossly offensive or shrewd and pertinent?

An 1899 Winston Churchill passage on Islam is getting some attention of late. Here's what Mark Steyn wrote about Churchill's account in 2004:

Is that grossly offensive to Muslims? Almost certainly. Is it also a rather shrewd and pertinent analysis by one of Britain's most eminent leaders? I think so.

Here is The American Thinker's reprint of the Churchill passage today. I will let the reader judge whether it is grossly offensive, shrewd, pertinent or all three.