View source for Zunar (Islamic Yellow-Badge Practices)

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[[File:Coptic and Jewish Badges.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Left: Yellow badge made mandatory by the Nazis, worn to identify Jews in France. Right: 10th century badge incorporating a cross, worn to identify Christians in Egypt.]]
'''Zunār''' (زنار) was a wide yellow belt made of cloth. It was part of the clothing that [[non-Muslims]] under [[Dhimmitude]] were required to wear in order to differentiate themselves from Muslims. 

The requirement to wear it were dictated by Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second Rightly-guided [[Caliph]], and formed one of his many "well-known conditions" in the [[Pact of Umar]] (637 AD).<ref>[http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=9&tid=20986 Tafsir ibn Kathir - Paying Jizyah is a Sign of Kufr and Disgrace]</ref>

The [[Yellow Badge|yellow badge]] that was to be eventually used by the Nazis as a badge of shame against the Jews was actually first introduced by a Muslim caliph in Baghdad in the 9<sup>th</sup> century as a variant of the zunār. This then spread to the western world during medieval times.<ref>Bernard Lewis - [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/1434.html The Jews of Islam] - Princeton University Press, June 1, 1987, pp. 25-26.</ref>

As recently as 2001, Afghanistan's Hindus were required to wear yellow badges to segregate "un-Islamic" and "idolatrous" communities from [[Islam|Islamic]] ones.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/fyi/news/05/22/taleban.hindus/index.html|2=2012-05-14}} Taliban to mark Afghan Hindus] - CNN, May 22, 2001</ref><ref>Jack Kelley - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-05-22-talibanids.htm|2=2012-05-14}} Taliban: Hindus must wear identity labels] - USA TODAY, June 19, 2001</ref><ref>T.C. Malhotra - [{{Reference archive|1=http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-lawmakers-condemn-taliban-treatment-hindus|2=2012-05-14}} US Lawmakers Condemn Taliban Treatment Of Hindus] - CNS News, July 7, 2008</ref>

Traditional Islamic sources proscribe Islamic rulers to impose the [[Dhimmitude|dhimma]] or pact of "protection" upon non-believers living in their realms. This pact includes inter alia the responsibility of the protected dhimmis (Christians or Jews under the "protection" of the dhimma) to pay a special tax, not propagate their religion, not take Muslim women as wives, and also to wear special articles of clothing to distinguish them from non-Muslims inter alia. These articles of clothing took many forms, such as a special color of cloth or a specially colored belt, and may have influenced later European Christian traditions of enforcing special colors of clothing on non-believers, particularly Jews, and even the Nazi practice of forcing Jews to wear the "Judenstern" or yellow "Jew-star." 

The yellow badge (or yellow patch), also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with [[antisemitism]].<ref>"''But the wearing of a badge or outward sign — whose effect, intended or otherwise, successful or not, was to shame and to make vulnerable as well as to distinguish the wearer…''" - D'Ancona, Jacob (2003). The City Of Light. New York: Citadel. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0806524634.</ref> 

This badge, that was to be eventually used by the Nazis against the Jews, was actually first introduced by a Muslim [[caliph]] in Baghdad in the 9<sup>th</sup> century as a variant of the [[Zunar|zunnār]] belt. This then spread to the western world in medieval times.<ref name="Bernard Lewis">Bernard Lewis, [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/1434.html The Jews of Islam], Princeton University Press, June 1, 1987, ISBN 9780691008073, pp. 25-26.</ref>