Board Thread:Board Room/@comment-6191837-20130227200639/@comment-6191693-20130320031851

Because Muslims can just as easily ally with Pagans if it means standing up to imperialist Christians as fellow Pagans could. The imagery is already consistent with Islam, as you said yourself, and modern Christianity would not be what it is today (especially the east/west split following the Great Schism) if it had not been for centuries of direct conflict with Muslims. By cutting Islam as a fundamental religious power, you're either leaving a massive plot hole in the story of the rise of modern Christianity or you're fundamentally changing modern Christianity itself.

Besides, we know fairly little about Dal's fictional pagan religion and have little to reference to learn more about it. If we just replace it with an existing religion, especially the one upon which its culture was loosely based, it greatly simplifies the dynamics of future interations with them because there is no shortage of resources about Islam, both ancient and modern, on the Internet.