The previous caliphs, who possessed a political genius rarely found among the advocates of new religions, realized that systems and religions were not something to be imposed by force. They treated the people of every country they conquered with great kindness, leaving them their own laws, systems, and beliefs, and imposing on them only a trivial tribute, generally compared to what they had previously paid in exchange for maintaining security among them. The truth is that nations have never known conquerors as tolerant as the Arabs, nor a religion as tolerant as theirs.