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<p>Right off the top of my head, in the final plague, the killing of the firstborns, when every firstborn Egyptian is killed (plus the firstborn animals), which I think sums up the Old Testament attitude towards non-Jews pretty succinctly . . . That a Jewish human being is more valuable than a non-Jewish human being. That it’s okay to kill random people (including some who are actual, literal babies) because they just don’t matter. </p>
<p>But also, in Numbers: “When Israel[ites] thus submitted to the rites of Baal the Lord’s anger flared up against them and he said to Moses, ‘Gather all the leaders of the people, and hold a public execution of the guilty ones before the Lord, that his blazing wrath may turn away from Israel.’” They weren’t even converting, they just took part in a “pagan” ceremony. To the gallows with them! But wait, it gets better. While this was going on an Israelite brought “a Midianite woman in full view of Moses and the whole Israelite community.” (Uh oh, a foreigner. IN PLAIN SIGHT.) "When Phinehas [the son of the priest] saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a lance in his hand, pierced the pair of them. Thus the slaughter of the Israelites was checked, but only after twenty-four thousand had died." Then you get into the book of Joshua and he goes on a bloody rampage, wiping out kingdom after kingdom:</p>
<p>“Joshua conquered the entire country; the mountain regions, the Negeb, the foothillls, and the mountain slopes, with all their kings. He left no survivors, but fulfilled the doom on all who lived there, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.”</p>
<p>“At that time Joshua, turning back, captured Hazor and slew its king with the sword . . . He also fulfilled doom by putting every person there to the sword, till none was left alive. . . . The Israelites took all the spoil and livestock of these cities as their booty; but the people they put to the sword, until they had exterminated the last of them, leaving none alive. As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly.” </p>
<p>The Koran certainly has passages premoting intolerance of other religions and general bloodshed . . . Well, it’s to be expected because a lot of it is exactly the same story as the Old Testament. And that kind of attitude was common back then–very tribal, very “look after your own, screw the rest of the world.” But it’s more tempered than the Old Testament and also offers some instances of support: </p>
<p>“Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”</p>
<p>“Then will Allah say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ‘This is nothing but evident magic.’””</p>