Was the dihmmi rule apartheid?

I have seen some people argue that dimmhi status was not apartheid and often remark that life of Jews in muslim countries were better than in Europe and often sited the inqusition. Which in my eyes is like comparing the most extreme prosecution of Jews to a rather milder and not consistent treatment of Jews in muslim countries (since treatment of Jews in other parts of Europe, famously in Poland was much more accepting, maybe even on par of equal rights - correct me if I am wrong).

Anyways, I have asked once someone about the rain laws of Shia areas/countries like Iran and yemen. And have ofc gotten a great answer, but it was rather localized on one aspect of Shia treatment of Dihmmis and ofc not about the Sunni treatment of Dihmmis.

Therefore I am asking broadly speaking both about Sunni and Shia treatment of Dihmmis (including Jews and christians). Would that be apartheid? Please feel free to include different time periods, different reigns ( as in different caliphates, empires).

And I know applying modern terms on much older times is rather hard or perhaps ahistorical. So I mean apartheid as in: state-sanctioned system of racial segregation and discrimination.

I feel like I am misunderstanding the term dihmmi, since there are many opinions both negative and positive about the term. So please be understanding if it sounds like I am omitting something, there is too much information to gather a coherant opinion on the subject.

Thank you all, in advance.