Islam’s ban on images made the Middle East less responsive to visual propaganda.

Evidence

Islam, like Ju­ daism and unlike Christianity, bans the use of images and makes only limited use of symbols. Because of this tradition, the Middle East has been much less responsive than the countries of Christendom to visual imagery and evocation. Nevertheless, visual propaganda, sometimes relying on living beings as well as on images and symbols, has often been used to arouse sympathy, to gain support, or to project power. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 483

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘Grafting & Growth’ only loosely; far better fit for the broader theme of how medium constraints (iconoclasm) shape propaganda, which parallels the visual-vs-verbal split the reader has tracked across communication-bias sources.
• XREF: Echoes the medium-theory theme of Innis and McLuhan — an iconoclastic medium culture operating by verbal rather than visual channels.