while Christian tradition favored literal images of its gods and saints, Islam focused on calligraphy and geometric patterns to represent the beauty of God’s universe. Islamic tradition held that only God could create life, and therefore man has no place creating images of life – not gods, not people, not even animals. a Muslim Michelangelo, for example, would never have painted God’s face on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; he would have inscribed the NAME of God. depicting God’s face would be considered blasphemy. both Christianity and Islam are logocentric, meaning they are focused on THE WORD. in Christian tradition, the Word became flesh in the book of John: “and the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt among us.” therefore, it was acceptable to depict the word as having a human form. in Islamic tradition, however, the Word DID NOT become flesh, and therefore the Word needs to remain in the form of a word: in most cases, calligraphic renderings of the names of the holy figures of Islam.