“The intelligence is heartless. It always deals with one perspective, which is to protect the state and national security. For it, you are a potential enemy even if you are an ally. Therefore, it must gather all information about you and know where your weak point lies, so that they can strike whenever they want.” [1]
Talking here about the most skilled Arab who told the peoples of the Arab region about the world of intelligence and made them read it with admiration and fascination. He is the Egyptian writer Nabil Farouk, who bid farewell to life on December 9, 2020.
He is the creator of Adham Sabry’s character, the weaver of the “Man of the Impossible” series, and the owner of the pen that imprinted the memory of an entire generation, who lived their adolescence and youth in the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century. Intelligence is the second oldest profession in history, and how once the peoples who lived in caves turned into tribes and these tribes began to fight, it became necessary for each tribe to arm itself with information about the other tribe, and from here was born intelligence that will become the field of his literary and novelistic creativity.
“Death Rays” .. the doctor’s first step in the world of literature
Nabil Farouk Ramadan was born on February 9, 1956 in the Egyptian city of Tanta, and his relationship with writing began early, as his first attempts were in his primary and secondary studies, and despite joining the Faculty of Medicine, his insistence on writing continued, as he followed his graduation from the Faculty of Medicine in 1980 with the coronation Literary represented by an award granted by the “Tanta Culture Palace”, for his novel “The Prophecy”, which, after many decades, will turn it into the first episode in the “Cocktail 2000” series.
Nabil Farouk considered his entry into the field of medicine a mere matter imposed on him by his family, because of the sum of his high school points, and his original inclinations were fine arts, because of his skill in drawing, and he entered the Faculty of Medicine at the request of the family, and graduated from it. Officially mandated to practice the profession, but as soon as he had the opportunity to become a professional writer, he resigned, and despite this, he did not give up the doctor’s suit, as his scientific personality continued to accompany him in most of his writings, providing him with information and details that formed a source of fascination for readers.
The turning point of Nabil Farouk’s life and his literary starting point was in 1984, when “World of Books” magazine published an advertisement requesting to supply it with literary works in the genre of science fiction, so he presented it with the story “Death Rays”, which was chosen for publication to become the first episode in the “Future File” series, which is The same stage in which Farouk encountered the realist character belonging to the Egyptian intelligence service, which was inspired by the character of Adham Sabry, and immediately after his actual literary launch, he retired from practicing medicine and married his wife, Mervat Ragheb, where they had three sons.
Nabil Farouk’s heart suddenly stopped beating on December 9, 2020, depriving him of seeing his most famous work, the “Man of the Impossible” series, which is turned into a movie. In 2018, he announced his approval of the project and sold it to the author, who will turn it into a movie. The script of a movie, but he died before he saw this dream come true.
The “Man of the Impossible” series, the first series that made Nabil Farouk famous
“He embodied in his fictional works a number of the nation’s championships.”
Nabil Farouk is considered one of the most influential and well-established Arab writers in the hearts of the youth of the eighties and nineties. He left hundreds of interesting and entertaining novels and stories that captured the interest of a generation of readers, given the inspirational stories Nabil Farouk presented to them.
Although his popularity was affected by his positions on the January 25, 2011 revolution, his death at the beginning of December 2020, achieved a rare consensus, as official voices led by the General Intelligence and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, and a group of intellectuals, critics and readers called him.
Nabil Farouk left sayings immortalized by references and intellectual and dialogue forums, including his saying, “If the Arabs had not conquered Andalusia and their presence in it, civilization would not have moved to Europe another half a century ago,” and his assertion that “Islam is a strong religion and a true religion. The civilizations of the world are lofty and mighty, and there is no need for us to do what we think will strengthen them, for religion has a Lord who protects it.” [2]
In addition to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and a group of writers, critics and novelists, the Egyptian General Intelligence mourned Nabil Farouk after his death, where it circulated a statement saying that the late “enriched and embodied in his fictional works a number of heroisms of the sons of the country.” [3]
University espionage .. the beginning of the relationship with the Egyptian intelligence المخابرات
In fact, Nabil Farouk was not completely far from the world of intelligence. He narrated his first contact with this world when he was a medical student, and the intelligence service asked him to participate in a spy operation against two Englishmen who raise suspicions of the Egyptian security, while they give free language lessons. English, by collecting information about them.
At that time, the character of Adham Sabry was born in the mind of Nabil Farouk and gradually grew, and he fought for its exit into existence, despite the publishers’ reluctance to accept it as an unpopular type of business in Egypt, but on the other hand, none of the works related to the intelligence were published without official approval, In a “coordination” relationship that lasted more than thirty years. [4]
This close relationship with the intelligence services did not prevent him from criticizing the regime during the era of the late President Hosni Mubarak. Rather, he published scathing books on this criticism, including “O my eyes, Egypt” and “Ezbet Their Father”, and they were directed directly at Hosni Mubarak, but he did not He is subject to any reaction from the authorities.
Nabil Farouk never denied that the character of Adham Sabry was inspired by a real Egyptian figure who belongs to the intelligence service, preferring to leave the task of revealing this to others after his death, explaining that it does not represent only one person, even if it is based on a real person who said that he died in 2015, but rather represents A number of personalities that he said belong to the Egyptian intelligence, as he says about this: I took the most skilled thing in every person. [5]