Scholastics treated Islam as heresy while poets called it idolatry

Evidence

It was agreed, with rare exceptions, that on the unity of God Islam was sound; but its purpose in speaking truth was only to ensnare. This at least was the scholastic view; in poetry the idea that Islam was idolatrous was expressed and implied often enough, but this seems to have been purely a literary convention. The general attitude of scholastics, however, resulted in Islam’s being taken to be a heresy, and as the sum of all heresy it was often regarded. It was also regarded as one of the three great religions of the world which, historically related, still competed contemporaneously for the souls of the pagan Mongols; and again, it was regarded as a schism of Christian peoples. Indeed, it seemed to be a schism of the human race, which God had called, entire, to the Christian faith. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1520

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article’s theme of literary convention vs. doctrinal position diverging across genres. — connects to: The crudest Muslim-idol beliefs flourished among the illiterate