Although al-Nasuli promoted the Najjadah as the Muslim equivalent of the Christian-dominated Phalanges,[4] and Sunni Muslim students from the schools run by the Maqasid Islamic Charitable Association provided him a pool of potential recruits, the group initially lacked much of the dynamism and organizational skills of their Christian rivals.[5] It did not attract a mass following until 1936 when Adnan al-Hakim, a Sunni university teacher and politician rose to the leadership of the organization and re-organized it into a structured political party, which grew rapidly thereafter.