"In Islamic iconoclasm, the whole idea was not to preserve but to destroy the idols; and more fundamentally, to destroy the religion embodied in the idols. … it artfully blurs the distinction between looting, i.e. carrying away as a prized good, done by a victorious king who shared the idolatrous tradition of his defeated opponent and continued it; and destruction, i.e. an act of contempt and hate for the idolatrous religion and meant to terminate it."