A wise conqueror supports his triumphs by protecting and even elevating the religion of the conquered people.
Bonaparte's principle was, as he himself has often told me, to look upon religions as the work of men, but to respect them everywhere as a powerful engine of government.

However, I will not go so far as to say that he would not have changed his religion had the conquest of the East been the price of that change.

All that he said about Mahomet, Islamism, and the Koran to the great men of the country he laughed at himself.
He enjoyed the gratification of having all his fine sayings on the subject of religion translated into Arabic poetry, and repeated from mouth to mouth.

This of course tended to conciliate the people.
I confess that Bonaparte frequently conversed with the chiefs of the Mussulman religion on the subject of his conversion; but only for the sake of amusement.

The priests of the Koran, who would probably have been delighted to convert us, offered us the most ample concessions.
But these conversations were merely started by way of entertainment, and never could have warranted a supposition of their leading to any serious result.