Minorities in an Islamic State — Page 36
36 The so-called Juridical Rules about the Dhimm i s : The first restriction which the jurists were inclined to impose because of a number of reasons was to establish a visible mark of distinction between the Muslim and non-Muslim citizens. (1) The mentality which led to the application of this distinction demanded that these signs of distinction should be derogatory to the Dhimm i s so as to make them appear inferior to the Muslims. The author of Hid a yah , discussing the necessity of establishing such a distinction writes: "The Dhimm i s should be forced not to imitate the Muslims in dress, and not to have similar mount nor to saddle them. They should, in fact, be better advised to be different from the Muslims in their use. " 44 Next follow the details of this distinction. For example, "The dress of the Dhimm i s should be of a coarse quality; it should not be silken or of other costly fibre. Their shirts should not be low; shoes should be ugly and ill-shaped and should be made of something rough and coarse, they should have a finger-thick, woollen waistband of prescribed specification. This waistband was formally known as Kast i j which is an ancient Persian word and means, humiliation and insult. That i s why this band could