Analysis readily discloses commonalities among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. One way of looking at the matter of a shared heritage pinpoints a common source in the life of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham reflected in the frescoes, mosaics, and illuminated manuscripts of some of the world's great monuments. 

Common themes have major theological significance, providing timely indigents into the mutuality of the Abrahamic tradition among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Yet, conventional wisdom has it that Islam practices a strict austerity with regard to representing holy figures, that Judaism in some period has been somewhat less strict, while Christianity has been more permissive. 

What the three faiths all share is a sense that representational images are not simply to be taken for granted. They constitute something whose very legitimacy must be deeply pondered, especially at this time when hatred and violence obscure the heritage of Abraham, which is shared by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike.