جمعية المقاصد الخيرية في النبطية
Al Makassed Philanthropic Association was established at the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, after the surge in missionary education in the Levant with the foundation of the two American universities in 1866 (the Syrian Evangelical College) and Saint-Joseph University in 1875.
The first founders of Al Makassed Association wanted a “national association inclusive of all the country’s citizens, not limited to one sect of the community”. The inauguration of Al Makassed in Nabatiyeh in 1890 coincided with two factors:
1- The first factor: the decrease in the number of religious schools during the last third of the nineteenth century.
2- The second factor: Rida Bek AL Solh’s remarkable initiative to open the first modern academic school in 1302 A.H/1884 A.D in Nabatiyeh, since the public school could not provide the educational needs of Nabatiyeh and its surrounding area.
The primary contribution of Al Makassed is that it was the first school in Mount Amel to acknowledge academic education, the first and only platform of education.
Al Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association was established in 1307 A.H/1889 A.D. It was composed of six members and presided by Naim Bek Al Hassan. The members were Haj Mohammad Sabbah, Mohammad Afandi Taha, Mohammad Afandi Al Haj Ali, and Mahmoud Afandi Mohyeddine. “The association delegated a young man, Sheikh Ahmad Reda, as its secretary and treasurer. It collected funds, opened a school for boys, and built a center.”
It was revived in 1907 by the director, Toufik Al Madani Adimashki, in Nabatiyeh. It consisted of ten members that included Sheikh Ahmad Reda and Sheikh Soleiman Dhaher, and Mohammad Jaber. When the government issued the law of associations, after the overthrow of Abdul Hamid’s government and the declaration of the Ottoman constitution, the association was notified on the date of November 15, 1908.
In 1329 A.H/1911 A.D, Fadl Bek Al Fadl presided the association. During this phase, the number of its properties expanded and it opened a school for girls, in addition to the school for boys. “The income from endowments grew from six hundred kuruş to ten thousand in two years, owing it to the increase in the number of properties it was leasing and the expansion of the circle of donors.
After the end of World War I, Al Makassed Philanthropic Association resumed work and opened a school for boys. In 1342 A.H/1923 A.D, some tendentious individuals caused strife which almost destroyed the association. However, Youssef Bek El Zein intervened at the time and prevented the spread of the discord, allowing righteousness to prevail for the benefit of the association.
Following Sheikh Ahmad Reda’s death in 1953, Youssef El Zein presided Al Makassed association, which gave it a new onset and a good standing among external parties as an association worthy of financial and political support in South Lebanon. He remained its president until 1962, the date of his death. His son, MP Abdel Latif El Zein, succeeded him”.
The first school was founded by Reda Al Solh in Nabatiyeh in 1302 A.H/1884 A.D, under the management of Mostafa Afandi Hekmat Al Akazi Al Trabolsi. It was the first school to follow modern curricula where grammar, history, geography and Turkish were taught. It later became affiliated with Al Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association which was established in Nabatiyeh in 1889
