Peter the Venerable aimed his anti-Islamic tract at doubting Christians, not Muslims

Evidence

Peter then responds to one final rhetorical objection to his tract: why compose for Muhammad’s followers a treatise in Latin, a language they do not understand? Here Peter has two justifications. First of all, he hopes that someone may undertake to translate his tract into Arabic; after all, the Fathers frequently translated works useful to the church from Hebrew to Greek, Greek to Latin, Latin to Greek, and so on. Second, Peter says that his tract may prove useful to Christian readers, even if it stays untranslated (which it did). If there are any Christians who have the slightest tendency to respect or admire Islam, Peter hopes his work will quickly dissuade them. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 853

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the modern phenomenon where polemics aimed at outsiders are actually internal fence-building for the in-group - same dynamic as moral panics reinforcing group identity.