What appears to me, and God knows best the truth, and all of this is in consideration of Islam and religious matters and self-honor. For honor encompasses both the religious and other aspects, so it cannot be said that most of this is a matter of advantage, and advantage alone does not necessitate superiority. No fair-minded person denies that the lands of the Franks are now at the height of brilliance in the philosophical sciences, and their scholars are deeply learned. Among these are the lands of the English and the French and the Germans. Their wise men have surpassed the ancient wise men like Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, and their like. They have mastered mathematics, physics, theology, and metaphysics. Their philosophy is free from the philosophy of the ancients, as they provide evidence for the existence of God Almighty, the permanence of souls, reward, and punishment. The greatest city of the Franks is the city of London, which is the seat of the English, then Paris, which is the capital of the kingdom of France. Paris is superior to London in the purity of its air, as it is said, and the nature of its people, and the scarcity of their agriculture. And when you see the manner of its governance, you will know all the comfort of strangers in it, their share, and their contentment with its people. The majority of its people are cheerful in the faces of strangers and quick-witted, even if their religion differs. This is because most of the people of this city only bear the name of Christianity, as they do not follow their religion or any other religion. Rather, they are among the good and bad sects according to their hearts, or a sect of libertines who say that every action that reason permits is right. If the religion of Islam is mentioned to him in contrast to other religions, he rejects all of them because they all command good and forbid evil. And if it is mentioned to him in contrast to the natural sciences, he says that he does not believe in anything in the books of the People of the Book because it deviates from natural matters. In summary, in the lands of the French, all religions are permitted, so a Muslim is not opposed.