A shared religious idiom eased rule over the arid zone’s diverse societies

Evidence

The achievement of Islam, in the millennium and a half during which it has dominated the arid zone, is that the characters in the drama have learnt to speak the same language, albeit with very diverse accents, so that when a new dynasty arrives in the citadel it already knows more or less how to comport itself, and others know what to expect from it. This somewhat eases the situation. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2002

Categorization

• XREF: Shared script easing relations parallels how shared norms/reputation reduce information costs in low-trust environments.