THE SCEPTER

By
Interfaith Studies and Research
Center
 Yaqoob, the Prophet of Allah, before
his death, said to his sons:
“Gather yourselves together that I may
tell you what shall befall you in days to
come.” (Gen. 49:1 RSV)
After the foregoing, Jacob made
predictions about his descendants
which contain a very important news
for Israel which we reproduce as
under:
“The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto
him shall the gathering of the people
be.” (Gen. 49:10)
The above prophecy and also the
God’s promise (as per Deu. 18:15-18),
as well as, Moses departing blessings
(Deu. 33:2) have always proved a
bottleneck to the Christian scholars.
They have been trying either to
obliterate the prophecy or to confuse
the same through revised translations
or commentary hiding the facts and
misleading the innocent readers. To
clarify the point, we reproduce
hereunder another version of the
aforesaid verse of the Bible from GNB,
as under:
“Judah will hold the royal sceptre,
And his descendants will always rule.
Nations will bring him tribute
And bow in obedience before him”
(Gen. 49:10, GNB 1980)

On comparison of the two versions of

the same verse of the Genesis, as
above, no one can say that they
pertain to the same verse or they have
been translated from the same source.
The KJV belongs to year 1611 AD,
while the GNB is a recent version and
the latter has distorted the translation
to such an extent that it does not seem
to be an alternate version of Gen.
49:10. Obviously, it is one of the recent
pious forgeries made by the authors of
GNB to conceal the real meanings of
the most important prophecy of
Prophet Jacob (Israel). To dispel the
obscurity, we need to re-examine the
aforesaid verse as follows.
The KJV version clearly tells us that
the scepter or the rod of authority as
well as a lawgiver which means
a great prophet imposing the law of
God shall not depart from Judah,
unless and until Shiloh comes. The
‘Easton’s Bible Dictionary’ defines
Shiloh as the Messiah “the peaceful
one”. The Vulgate version translates
the word “he who is to be sent”. The
New Bible Dictionary (Inter Versity
Fellowship) defines Shiloh as a
messianic title. By emending Siloh to
Selloh, means “until that which is his
shall come” i.e. the things reserved for
him, a vaguely messianic hope. It also
has been rendered as “until he
comes whose it is whatever may
be”. Shiloh has also been defined “the
peace giver.”
With the aforementioned meanings, it
is clear that the Judaists will continue
to enjoy power as well as God’s
blessings in the shape of His law and
the prophets and they will not be
deprived of the same unless and until
Shiloh comes. Shiloh is obviously a
messiah, the peace giver, or perhaps
the comforter, or the paracletus, the
advent of whom has been prophesied
where after the Judaists will stand
deprived of their kingdom as well as
the prophethood. The Shiloh, the
peace giver, or the paracletus will
receive obedience and the gathering
of people towards him. The RSV (1952
version) of the verse under discussion
is given below:
“The scepter shall not depart from
Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his
feet,
Until he comes to whom it belongs;
And to him shall be the obedience of
the people.” (Gen. 49:10)
The above prophecy was fulfilled in
history with the advent of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) at Makka,
whereafter there had never been
another prophet in Israel. The worldly
kingdom also stood shifted to Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) and his
successors forever. The Christian
scholars have also tried to conceal the
most important prophecy of Jesus
about the advent of Prophet
Muhamamd ‫صلی ا علیہ وسلم‬, the
Paracletus or the spirit of truth as
referred herein below:
After Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob was
chosen by God to be His prophet and
as such the Israelites became a nation
chosen for trial by the Lord.
Thousands of prophets came to them
in between Moses and Jesus, but
those stubborn people never mended
their ways. They rebelled against the
God, refused to obey the prophets,
killed and murdered many of them and
have continually been worshiping the
idols save only a minority on the
straight path. Instead of changing their
own behavior, the Israelites have been
making unauthorized changes in the
scripture to such an extent that it is no
longer possible to differentiate the
Word of God from the word of Israel.
Continuous admonitions from the Lord
did not change them. The test and trial
of Israel culminated during the
prophethood of Yahya (John, the
Baptist) and Issa (Jesus). The former
was executed by Herod Antipas, and
the latter was allegedly deserted by
his followers and crucified by the
Romans. The test and trial of the
Israelites as trusties of the God’s
covenant reached finality after the
aforesaid events with no hope of
revival of righteousness in them. This
was high time to depart the scepter
and the ruler’s staff as well as the
lawgiver from among the descendants
of Judah. Prophet Muhammad ‫صلی ا‬
‫ علیہ وسلم‬to whom it all belonged, as per
the prophecy of Jacob (Gen. 49:10)
shown on Mt. Paran i.e. Makkah, with
full brightness to illuminate the entire
world, and all the people of Arabian
Peninsula turned obediently towards
him. Subsequently, his successors
held the largest empires in the world
for about 1300 years. As such, the
scepter stood transferred from
Israelites and Judah to the Arabian
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which
means ‘the most praised one’ and
Habakkuk, perhaps, has hinted the
same as follows:
“God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount
Paran Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
And his brightness was as the light;
He had horns coming out of his hand:
And there was the hiding of his power.
Before him went the pestilence,
And burning coals went forth at his
feet
He stood, and measured the earth:
He beheld, and drove asunder the
nations;
And the everlasting mountains were
scattered,
The perpetual hills did bow:
His ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of cushan in
affliction:
And the curtains of the land of
Midian did tremble.” (Hab. 3:3)
In our opinion, there was no one
except Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
described in the aforesaid vision.
Before arriving at a conclusion, we
recount the Bible statements that
Ishmael lived in the wilderness of
Paran and his mother found an
Egyptian wife for him. And also that
Hagar and Ishmael went to the
Wilderness of Paran and lived there
(Gen. 21:20-21). If the said Paran was
in Sinai Peninsula, then the Biblical
narration stands disproved due to the
fact that no Ishmaelite could ever be
found living in the said Wilderness of
Paran as they have always been living
in Arabia for the last 3,800 years. To
make the scripture true, there is no
alternative except to admit that by
Paran is meant the area of Hijaz and
its surroundings in Arabia, the central
point of which is city of Mecca, the Mt.
Paran of the Biblical predictions.
Anyone attempting to wriggle out of
the above situation will find himself
facing another impasse to prove or
falsify the prophecies of Moses in Deu.
32:2 and Deu. 18:15-18. The said
prophecies clearly foretold the advent
of the prophet like Moses to be raised
from among the brethren of Israel (i.e.
Ishmaelites) who would shine forth on
Mt. Paran along with 10 thousand
saints, and from whose right hand will
go forth a fiery law for them. In the
circumstances, we should either admit
that the aforementioned prophecies of
Moses were incorrect as the same
were never fulfilled, or alternatively, we
must pinpoint the Mt. Paran in Sinai
and produce a historical evidence of
the fulfillment of the prophecies stated
above.
Our Christian brothers will, perhaps,
try to apply the aforementioned
prophecies to Jesus, but the said
prophecies are self explanatory and
they cannot be proved just by
imaginary descriptions. We will,
however, appreciate if concrete and
exact references are quoted from
history to prove that the aforesaid
prophecies pertain to someone else
than Prophet Muhammad ‫صلی ا علیہ‬
‫وسلم‬. Comments and criticism, if any,
will be welcome if the same is just,
without prejudice and based on
knowledge.
As stated earlier, Ishmael being the
first born son of Abraham belonged to
the Lord and as such, he could not
claim any inheritance from his father.
Being dedicated to the Lord, he was
taken to Mecca, to stand before the
house of the Lord for his entire life. He
belonged to God and God was with
him, as also confirmed by the Bible.
This shows that Ishmael was neither
an outcast, nor perhaps, sent away
merely on the desire of Sarah, as
claimed by the Israelites. Ishmael was,
in fact, the first born son of Abraham
dedicated to the Lord and he stood
before the house of Lord at Mecca
continuously from his childhood till his
death, and on his death he was
burried in Hateem i.e. in Kaaba. We,
therefore, conclude that the dwelling
place of Hagar, Ishmael, and their
descendents was actually the valley of
Mecca (Paran of the Bible) and they
never lived in the so-called wilderness
of Paran in Sinai.
The last blessing of Moses to Israel
containing prophecy about the Lord
shining forth from Mount Paran is
given hereunder again for ready
reference:
“This is the blessing wherewith
Moses, the man of God, blessed the
children of Israel before his death and
he said:
The Lord came from Sinai and rose up
from Seir unto them.
He shined forth from Mount Paran and
he came with ten thousands of saints:
From his right hand went a fiery law
for them” (Deu. 33:2)
It is clear from the above that after
coming from Sinai (i.e. the place of law
giving to Moses) God rose up from
Seir (i.e. the mountain range where
Jesus preached). He shone forth from
Mount Paran (i.e. Mecca, where
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) shone
forth with full brightness in 8th hijrah)
and he entered the aforesaid city
triumphantly along with ten thousand
saints and a fiery and eternal law for
the world. The truth stands established
without any doubt for all the righteous
people in the world seeking their
salvation with the God. To us, it makes
no difference whether the Israelites
accept the same or deny the clear cut
final prophecy of Prophet Moses as
referred to above. If they have any
proof against our findings mentioned
here in above, they are welcome to
produce historical facts in support of
their contention that the Ishmaelites
lived in Sinai. Similarly, they are also
required to comment whether the final
prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy
33:2 was true or false one. If they
declare aforesaid prophecy as true,
then they must mention the fulfillment
thereof showing the promised one
shining forth from Mount Paran
with 10 thousand saints and a fiery
law going forth from his right hand.
If they fail to find anyone else than
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) actually
fulfilling the final prophecy of Moses in
toto and even thereafter they continue
denying him that they will have to
account for the same before the Lord
God (Jehovah, Elohin, or Allah by
whatever good name one may
address Him) on the day of the
Judgment.