The use of the word deen in Islamic discourse is more complex than the apparent linguistic meaning of the word, which is religion.

Often the best translation for deen is Islam, especially when the definitive article "al" is used, or as in your case, the term used is "the deen". This is partly because the literal translation "the religion" sounds awkward and also because it fails to capture the whole meaning, since the concept of "deen" in Islam involves more than the traditional Western meaning of religion.

A good example is the use of al-deen in Muslim titles that later became names such as "sayf-ul-deen': the sword of Islam, Salah-ul-deen: the betterment of Islam, and Zein-ul-deen: the pride or the adornment of Islam. Substituting "the religion" for Islam in these titles would sound fairly awkward.

In your text a lot depends on the nature of these religious talks, their purpose, and the environment in which they took place.

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Note added at 3 hrs 32 mins (2004-04-10 19:46:29 GMT)
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Note that writer\'s (or speaker\'s) resort to using the term \" the deen\" is probably because they felt that \"religion\" does not fully express the intended meaning. Therefore, it is quite likely that Islam is the intended meaning here.