Medieval authors mixed accurate monotheist knowledge of Islam with fabricated idol worship.

Evidence

Guibert makes clear that Saracens consider Muhammad to be their wholly human prophet, not a god. The other three authors try to accommodate the popular belief that Muslims worshiped Muhammad as their God. … Thus the images of Saracen idolatry examined in chapter 5 could be accommodated with a cursory knowledge of Muhammad’s life. In this way, William of Malmesbury, writing in about 1125, can assert the Saracens are monotheists yet still maintain that they had erected a statue of Muhammad in the temple of Jerusalem. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 791

Categorization

• XREF: Directly follows the chapter 5 treatment of Saracen idolatry; shows how the two images coexisted. — connects to: Even well-informed medieval authors chose implausible stories when framing Muslims; The crudest Muslim-idol beliefs flourished among the illiterate