[QUOTE=Ibrahiim al Balooshi]
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Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde
..... It was indeed the Islamic view that calligraphy and geometry used as decoration was really the only allowable art form.....
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With all due respect, this is a tremendously simplified and rather incorrect point of view.
Aniconism as such was officially introduced by Caliph al-Malik in ~697 CE ( that was when islamo-byzantine coins stopped carrying portraits of the Caliph ( or presumably Muhammed himself) and became image-less tokens.
However, in a little bit of time Persians, Mamluks, Moghuls and Ottomans produced enormous numbers of detailed miniatures with human images and even portraits, including Muhammed himself, and some of those images were pretty risque, not to say pornographic.
Perhaps the only society where uniconism still persisted was Aravia proper, but even there crude engraving were created.
Hadiths proscribe music as well, but it was never suppressed and flourished unabated everywhere. Even alcohol was used in some islamic societies and strains.