# Significance of "Al-Aqsa" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100 "2004-06-13T07:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/1 "2004-06-13T07:51:04Z")
Ok. I know most of you aren’t rap fans, but theres a rapper named Immortal Technique who says this “Its like the prescription pills when you misusin em nigga/ the Templar Knights, when they took Jerusalam nigga/ and figured out what was buried under Solomon’s Temple/ Al-Aqsa, the name is not coincidental” I’ve done a lot of googling, and asked a number of Muslim friends, but i can not for the life of me figure out why the name Al-Aqsa would not be coincidental. It means The Farthest. I get everything in there up until that part. Does anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/2 "2004-06-13T14:45:38Z")
There’s a terrorist group in Lebanon(?) called the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. Maybe the guy in the song is referencing terrorism? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/3 "2004-06-13T15:19:00Z")
Not everything with an Arabic name is about terrorism. The Al-Aqsa mosque is part of the Al-Haram al-Sharif complex in Jerusalem (it also includes the Dome of the Rock). It was the place where the Knights Templar establised their first base. Somewhere around 1200, they were supposed to have excavated the site, but exactly what was found (if anything) is unknown. There are stories that they uncovered the Ark of the Covenant. What this has to do with prescription drugs is beyond me ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/4 "2004-06-13T15:22:32Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > There’s a terrorist group in Lebanon(?) called the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. The [Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade](http://cfrterrorism.org/groups/alaqsa.html) is > [@](#): > > The brigades are a group of West Bank militias affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat’s al-Fatah faction and have been one of the driving forces behind the current Palestinian intifada (uprising). ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/5 "2004-06-13T15:24:39Z")
I would assume it’s a reference to the [Al-Aqsa mosque](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque), but you probably already found that out through googling & your friends. I’m not quite sure why they used the word “coincidental” in there, though — maybe just to keep the flow? ---
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/6 "2004-06-13T16:04:28Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I would assume it’s a reference to the [Al-Aqsa mosque](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque), but you probably already found that out through googling & your friends. I’m not quite sure why they used the word “coincidental” in there, though — maybe just to keep the flow? Yeah i would have thought so too but then in the liner notes he references it again. I assume its some sort of conspiracy theory ---
**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/7 "2004-06-13T16:19:08Z")
Is this a reference to the illuminati? Illuminati being inheritors to the legacy of the Templars and bent on controlling the world, did they also inherent the Templar discovery from Al-Aqsa and, using that, will set up poor Muslim martyrs as patsies to their plan for world domination by first destabilizing all nations and then imposing their New World Order? Obviously, the Zionist plan for world domination interferes with the Illuminati plan, so the poor, innocent Muslim martyrs are being directed against the Jewish conspiracy and its headquarters in Jerusalem. The Illuminati, though, being clever enough to hide concrete proof of their existance can not resist such a Bond-like affectation to name their brigade of poor, innocent Muslim martyrs after the temple in which the Templars made the discovery that will enable the Illuminati to crush the Zionsit conspiracy and thereby guarantee that the Illuminati, and only the Illuminati, can control the world. I want my mommy. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/8 "2004-06-13T16:25:17Z")
The lyrics for the whole song can be found [here](http://www.viperrecords.com/imtech/lyrics.shtml) (warning: CAPLOCK CRIME). There doesn’t seem to be any linear narrative, just a bunch of random conspiracy related stuff. Conspiracies don’t get much [better/bigger/sillier](http://www.davidicke.net/tellthetruth/conspiracy/baphomet.html)than the Knight’s Templars. I don’t think it links to the drugs line. _That_ conspiracy would be along the line that drug companies deliberately make prescription drugs addictive or something. ---
**Author:** ![Littlesam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Littlesam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littlesam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/9 "2012-10-29T09:54:25Z")
Google “asqala(n)”, which is of course “al aqsa” backwards and go from there. Solomon in his latter years, had his heart turned towards the gods of his many wives and concumbines. One of which is goddess Astarte or Ashteroth in the Bible. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/10 "2012-10-29T15:40:37Z")
Maybe he’s referring to the coincidence of “Al Aqsa” meaning “the farthest” sounding similar to “Alaska” which is quite remote? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/11 "2012-10-29T15:42:39Z")
I bet it has to do with zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/12 "2012-10-29T16:10:03Z")
OK…I’m 8 years late. About right. Never put off til tomorrow what you can put off forever… “Solomon’s Temple…not coincidental…” It rhymes. Sort of. Highly unlikely that the rapper scholar here had much more in mind beyond that, plus a general vague sense of the exotic and mysterious. [http://www.immortaltechnique.co.uk/Thread-EXPLAIN-Knights-Templars-Al-Aqsa-and-Tech-s-Lyrics](http://www.immortaltechnique.co.uk/Thread-EXPLAIN-Knights-Templars-Al-Aqsa-and-Tech-s-Lyrics) ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/13 "2012-10-29T16:34:27Z")
I assume that’s a picture of him on the website with the caption “The Martyr”. So maybe it is a reference to the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. That doesn’t quite fit in with what the song is talking about, but its narrative is a bit weak to begin with. Was he using the sobriquet “The Martyr” back in 2004? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/14 "2012-10-29T17:04:08Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Not everything with an Arabic name is about terrorism. Yeah, bringing up the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade is like answering a question about what “Republican” means by mentioning the IRA. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/15 "2012-10-29T19:03:12Z")
> [@Littlesam](#): > > Google “asqala(n)”, which is of course “al aqsa” backwards and go from there. Solomon in his latter years, had his heart turned towards the gods of his many wives and concumbines. One of which is goddess Astarte or Ashteroth in the Bible. Very interesting. Did you just figure that the letter game would be significant? Or are you an in-grouper who knows? The Black Mass. My obligation: [_Ulysses_, Circe] **THE REVEREND MR HAINES LOVE** (_Raises high behind the celebrant’s petticoats, revealing his grey bare hairy buttocks between which a carrot is stuck_.) My body. **THE VOICE OF ALL THE DAMNED** Htengier Tnetopinmo Dog Drol eht rof, Aiulella! _(From on high the voice of Adonai calls.)_ Dooooooooooog! ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/16 "2012-10-30T00:43:39Z")
Could it just be a weak pun, Al Aqsa/ “I’ll ask/aks ya’”? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/17 "2012-10-30T15:42:35Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > Could it just be a weak pun, Al Aqsa/ “I’ll ask/aks ya’”? Highly doubt it. Otherwise, what’s the point of mentioning Templars and Jerusalem? So he says the name is not coincidental. In order to be coincidental, you need to have two incidences. One is the mosque. What’s the other one? Perhaps a nickname of the rapper’s? Another holy site? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/18 "2012-10-30T22:05:41Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yeah, bringing up the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade is like answering a question about what “Republican” means by mentioning the IRA. If the person in question went around saying they were in ‘the army’ and made vague references to setting off bombs you might at least consider the possibility. I don’t think it is meant to be in the song, I just don’t think it’s totally out of the blue to guess that. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/19 "2012-10-30T23:12:27Z")
> [@vinniepaz](#): > > Ok. I know most of you aren’t rap fans, but theres a rapper named Immortal Technique who says this “Its like the prescription pills when you misusin em nigga/ the Templar Knights, when they took Jerusalam nigga/ and figured out what was buried under Solomon’s Temple/ Al-Aqsa, the name is not coincidental” > > I’ve done a lot of googling, and asked a number of Muslim friends, but i can not for the life of me figure out why the name Al-Aqsa would not be coincidental. It means The Farthest. I get everything in there up until that part. Does anyone know? You listen to Immortal Technique and your name is Vinne Paz, we obviously both have good taste in rap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bluspade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bluspade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluspade)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100/20 "2016-05-16T18:49:23Z")
In the song Point of No Return by Immortal Technique he says “Like prescription pills when you mis-using them nigga, The templar knights when they took Jerusalem niggs”. What he means is people abuse and misuse prescription drugs like the leaders of the templar knights misused most of the knights templar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-al-aqsa/250100.md?page=2)