Ahmed Daadouch

The Kuwaiti intellectual and former lawmaker Abdullah Al-Nafisi raised a controversy that crossed the borders of his country due to the frankness of the man in presenting his ideas and regaining many of his confrontational memories and positions, through a series of meetings broadcast on YouTube linking observers between them and his summoning to investigate, and even an attempt to assassinate him from an unknown destination.

Over a period of about four months, "Al-Qabas Al-Qabarat" channel broadcast 32 dialogues from the "Black Box" program with Al-Nafisi, 75, who opened dozens of sensitive files from his black box full of secrets, mysteries and bold ideas.

Since the first episodes were broadcast, Al-Nafisi sparked intense controversy, as usual, on communication sites and the media, forcing his media host Ammar Taqi to host him in four additional episodes after the series ended, in order to respond to the many questions and criticisms that affected the program and the guest, in parallel with hundreds of comments and tweets that praised him. .

Rich memories
Al-Nafisi began recounting his memories by returning to the origins of his Najdi family before she was displaced to Kuwait in the late nineteenth century, then sent him, accompanied by his brother, by their father in the early fifties to "Victoria" College in Cairo, which was one of the most important European boarding schools in the region, where he was completed by The British educational staff has primary, secondary and secondary education.

One of the remarkable stations mentioned by the Kuwaiti thinker is that he decided to cut his studies of medicine in Britain as soon as he became acquainted with the ideas of atheists, and he returned to his country to devote himself to learning the origins of his religion, considering that this ideological foundation was necessary before continuing his education in any other field.

This discontinuation later changed his direction towards political science in which he obtained his doctorate from the University of Cambridge in the early seventies, after his specialization in Shiite political thought and his role in the region.

Al-Nafisi revealed in this illustrated autobiography the revolutionary aspect of his personality. When he was surprised by his teacher, Professor Jalal Sadiq Al-Azem, as he published his atheistic ideas through the pulpit of the American University of Beirut, Al-Nafisi, a twenty-year-old student, sought to provoke a state of popular and religious rejection of the ideas of the bone, and then led demonstrations Students demanding his dismissal, forcing the university administration to finally dismiss him from work.

When Al-Nafisi returned to his country to head the Department of Political Science at Kuwait University, he led a strike with his colleagues in favor of the independence of the educational institution from power, and then published a book titled "Kuwait .. The Other Opinion" protesting the dissolution of the National Assembly (parliament), to obtain his punishment by dismissing from his academic work And confiscating his passport.

Provoke controversy
Al-Nafisi also spoke during the program about his political and intellectual clashes under the dome of parliament when he became a deputy in the mid-eighties, as well as on the official TV screen when he was presenting a dialogue program entitled "The Round Table", and even in the councils called Diwaniyah, one of whom was taken by the security forces to a center the police.

He revealed dozens of positions that he experienced during his meetings with figures who made political reality in the region, such as the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and senior Shiite figures in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, and many presidents, officials and thinkers.

Among the opinions that sparked controversy in this series, Al-Nafisi repeated his criticism of the authority in his country and in the rest of the countries of the region, considering that it is governed by a "Sahrawi organization" and lacking political sophistication, and said, "If this position does not end, history will enter into its surgical operations."

He also recalled his memories of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the early nineties, speaking of his insistence at the time holding the authority accountable for its positions, and the need to reform the internal situation after the liberation of Kuwait to restore confidence between the citizen and the authority.

Abdullah Al-Nafisi: I do not rule out the hypothesis of the invasion of Kuwait that it was with an American green light! #Black Box
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Full encounter: https://t.co/vhrgQ15xi1 pic.twitter.com/DpUdn6O0rv

- Ammar Taqi Ammar Taqi (@AmmarTaqi) January 17, 2020

The Kuwaiti thinker elaborated his criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood, denying several times his accession to it throughout his career, and saw that the group lacked knowledge of the complexities of the political map, stressing the modesty of its political experience, which he touched during his meetings with some of the guides and leaders of the group.

Al-Nafisi circulated his criticism by saying that all Islamic groups are infiltrated, and that the news of their meetings reaches daily to the security authorities in all Arab countries, adding that they are much weaker than we think, allowing the security authorities to involve them in proxy wars, as did former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat when he released Brotherhood leaders give them relative freedom to work with the aim of engaging left-wingers in conflict with them, according to him.

Abdullah Al-Nafisi: I repeat my call once again that the Muslim Brotherhood should be dissolved! # The Black Box
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Full encounter: https://t.co/vhrgQ15xi1 pic.twitter.com/S8GfwAU58n

- Ammar Taqi Ammar Taqi (@AmmarTaqi) January 17, 2020

Al-Nafisi also poured out his anger on the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, blaming him for the responsibility of the social deterioration in Egypt and the region, as well as the politician.

His harsh criticism also extended to the artist Umm Kulthum, which sparked a wave of criticism against him, and Al-Nafisi defended his position in the episodes of subsequent responses.

Summon and assassinate attempt
On January 5, nine days after the broadcast of the last episode of the series, the Criminal Court in Kuwait ordered Nafisi be brought in connection with a case accusing him of insulting the UAE, after "he failed to attend the session despite being informed of it."

Al-Nafisi posted on his Twitter account, which is followed by about 2.6 million people, a statement confirming that he had not received any notice of this case before, and that he was ready to defend himself before the court.

A statement about the discipline, appearance and travel ban of Dr. # Abdullah_ Al-Nafisi
(Mk) pic.twitter.com/vvP3i5eWxn

- Dr. Abdullah Al-Nafisi (@DrAlnefisi) January 6, 2020

Activists recycled a tweet written by Al-Nafisi in 2017, in which he said, "Muhammad Dahlan is the one who rules the Emirates, and Israel rules Muhammad Dahlan ... Think deeply about it."

Some of them considered that Al-Nafisi’s audacity to criticize many governments and officials during his recent program was a reason for calling him to account for that old tweet, according to their opinion.

About ten days later, Kuwaiti lawyer Adel Abdul-Hadi said that his client, Nafisi, had received a death threat by planting an explosive device in his car, which prompted some of the tweeters to talk about the dissatisfaction of some parties with al-Nafisi’s opening of his black box.