On Islam and alcohol: The popular drink in Kievan Rus' was mead, with a fairly mild alcoholic content. (Wine was for the aristocrats only.) I suppose it might have been possible for Islamic authorities to tolerate mead--as they did kumiss, the fermented mare's milk which was the favorite drink of Turkic nomads. "Though the Koran prohibits wine — and the Kazak are faithful Muslims — the nomads at Timurlik said the Koran spoke only of wine, and so it was all right to enjoy kumiss."
http://books.google.com/books?id=dXf1UJg-x20C&pg=PA148
In any event, entertaining as the "joy of the Rus" account in the Primary Chronicles may be,
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his101/documents/chronicle.html [1] the real reason Vladimir decided on Orthodox Christianity was political. In 987 Vladimir put down a rebellion against the co-emperors of Byzantium, and demanded the hand of their sister Anna in return. They replied that they would agree only if Vladimir converted to Christianity. (Even after he converted, though, they tried to put the marriage off. Only the Rus' seizure of the Byzantine-held Crimean city of Cherson finally put an end to the Byzantines' stalling.) IMO, given the influence of Byzantium and given the fact that Orthodox Christianity had existed among the Rus' even before Vladimir's conversion, Orthodoxy was always most likely to be the religion the Rus' would choose after abandoning paganism.
[1] "Vladimir was visited by Bulgars of Muslim faith, who said, "Though you are a wise and prudent prince, you have no religion. Adopt our faith and revere Mahomet." Vladimir inquired about the nature of their religion. They replied that they believed in God, and that Mahomet instructed them to practice circumcision, to eat no pork, to drink no wine and, after death, promised them complete fulfillment of their carnal desires. "Mahomet," they claimed, "will give each man seventy fair women. He may choose one fair one, and upon that woman Mahomet will confer the charms of them all, and she shall be his wife. Mahomet then promises that one may then satisfy every desire, but whoever is poor in this world will be no different in the next." They also spoke other false things which out of modesty may not be written down. Vladimir listened to them, for he was fond of women and indulgence, regarding what he heard with pleasure, but circumcision and abstinence from pork and wine were disagreeable to him. "Drinking," he said, " is the joy of the Rus. We cannot exist without that pleasure."" I would really like to learn what those "other false things which out of modesty may not be written down" were...
