I think the idea, officially, was more in lines of "we're going to pay lip service to his religious customs because we don't want to inflame moderates who care

I think the idea, officially, was more in lines of "we're going to pay lip service to his religious customs because we don't want to inflame moderates who care about that sort of thing", but yeah. It makes sense to me that they would do it that way, but it certainly leaves open the possibility that everything was not on the level (which I consider plausible, but not not necessarily probable).