Who was Cheikh Barbar Beik el Khazen?

 Barbar Beik el Khazen, son of Cheikh Fendi el Khazen and Sultana daughter of Cheikh Chahine el Dahir was born on September 21 1861. On 15 November 1896, he married Therese daughter of Ghandour Beik El Saad, sister of Habib Basha El Saad, who gave him four children: Fendi and Najib el Khazen (who died young), Chafik and Rafik. His wife died in 1922. Since his young age, his father assigned a teacher to enlighten Barbar on the rules and ethics of work and everyday life. He was enrolled later on in the Jesuits School in Ghazir and then transferred later to the Lazaristes School in Tripoli. Few years later, he started and managed his own business until 1891 when he was appointed head of the Zouk area in the Keserwan District and stayed in this position until 1897.  During this time, he was blessed by Pope Leon XIII for his goods deeds and charity work and honored with the medal of St Gregoire. Cheikh Barbar had also considerably supported Minister Salim Basha’s initiative to help the poor through financial and various means.

In 1902, after earning various honors and medals, Barbar was upgraded to the Excellency rank and was voted a board member in Mount Lebanon of the Keserwan district.  He performed his duties for 8 months when he was appointed as ‘Minbachi’ over the Lebanese armed forces.  With the death of Lebanese Armed forces “Mir Alay” Melhem Beik Abou Chakra,  he was promoted to a higher rank before being proclaimed on 10 March 1905 Commander of Mount Lebanon’s armed forces also known as  مير آلاي الجند اللبناني. He died on 17 January 1928 and was buried at the family church of Saint Tadross on the Khazen Hill in Al Zawiya, Ehden. 

You can read the full biography [Here]. 

As noted above,  Therese daughter of Ghandour Beik El Saad is the sister of Habib Basha El Saad, who was the Prime Minister of Lebanon from August 10 1928 till May 9 1929. He was named President under the French Mandate on January 30, 1984 and served till January 20, 1936.