Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"This was opposed by Pope Gregory II, and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches." [Wikipedia: Timeline of the Middle Ages] "Iconoclasm (...) is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other images or monuments, most frequently for religious or political reasons. . . . The first act of Muslim iconoclasm dates to the beginning of Islam, in 630, when the various statues of Arabian deities housed in the Kaaba in Mecca were destroyed. . . . The destruction of the idols of Mecca did not, however, determine the treatment of other religious communities living under Muslim rule after the expansion of the caliphate. Most Christians under Muslim rule, for example, continued to produce icons and to decorate their churches as they wished. A major exception to this pattern of tolerance in early Islamic history was the "Edict of Yazid", issued by the Umayyad caliph Yazid II in 722–723. This edict ordered the destruction of crosses and Christian images within the territory of the caliphate." [Wikipedia]