Islam played a major role during the Protestant Reformation, in several ways. Compared to Catholocism, "Islam was seen as closer to Protestantism in banning images from places of worship, in not treating marriage as a sacrament and in rejecting monastic orders." Islam's loose structure inspired Protestants to oppose the Catholic monastic order, and the religious tolerance seen in the Ottoman Empire also inspired the Reformation movement to adopt a similar religious tolerance of its own. As many of the key Reformation figures were familiar with Islam, they also attempted to differentiate their Protestant faith from that of Islam just as they did with Catholicism. More importantly, due to their similarities, Protestant leaders formed key alliances with more powerful Islamic states, including