Islam, symbolic hegemony and the problem of bodily expression

While there is no single expression of Islam, there are certain general features which are commonly cited in the literature. A principal one is the prohibition on anthropomorphic and animal pictorial and sculptural imagery. Neither people nor animals, and only rarely plant life, may be represented. Instead, representations take the form of abstract designs in mosque architecture and of Arabic calligraphy. The prohibition may be assumed to stem from early Islamic attempts to suppress all previous forms of animistic worship (shirk) and of the deification of humans, as in the Christian view of Christ as consubstantially God.