I very much enjoyed this story, and I am myself interested in an academic sense in how Islam is represented in SF, In regard to ‘Islands in The Sea’ what I found most charming about the story was that, because of their representations to the King of the Bulgars, the Christian and Muslim leaders of the delegation realised that they had far more in common than they had differences. Ultimately, however, the important point is that the King makes his decision based upon very practical – rather than religious – reasons, based on who had the larger army at his borders.