Educated medieval people knew Muslims were not idolaters despite literary convention

Evidence

THERE is a widespread impression to-day that the general mediaeval belief was that Muslims were idolators. This is probably because most people know the Middle Ages best in its literature, and, although this was emphatically not the belief of educated men, there was indeed a literary convention to that effect. The derivation of the English word ‘mommet’ is well known, and the poets are full of the Saracens’ worship of idols, Mahomet, Tervagan, Apolin and Jupiter. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1752

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to anti-Islamic polemic traditions in later Crusade historiography and Orientalism studies. — connects to: Physical contact with Muslims forced medieval authors toward greater accuracy; Even well-informed medieval authors chose implausible stories when framing Muslims; Medieval educated opinion did not regard Muslims as idolaters (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Explains the origin of ‘mommet’ (effigy/idol) from Muhammad, a folk etymology worth noting.