Personally, I don't care for Islam but here's their answer to your question. The Koran receives the same mystical veneration the Bible got in Europe 3 or 4 hundred years ago. ie. The book itself was considered holy because of the contents. In the second case, human effigies are forbidden. Don't expect consistancy in the matter of pictures of Ayatollahs and the like. All people are good at lieing to themselves. The bottom line is that if you want to influence the Islamic world, you need to know enough about it to avoid pushing the wrong buttons.