Halal Excellence: Topic of the Lecture at the Youth School of Leadership and Dialogue

The Centre for Halal Quality Certification was a guest on the regional programme of the Balkan Youth School

At the beginning of May, the Centre for Dialogue Culture, as part of the Youth School of Leadership and Dialogue programme, hosted the Director of the Centre for Halal Quality Certification, Assistant Professor Dr. sc. Aldin Dugonjić, who spoke on the topic “Let Us Be Halal Excellent!” Following the lecture in Zagreb, the same presentation was also delivered to participants of this programme in Rijeka.

“Halal excellence is a process, a striving for excellence that manifests itself in serving humanity with halal-excellent products and services, with the aim of surpassing ourselves,” said Dr. Dugonjić at the beginning of his lecture.

The lecturer presented halal to the School participants as a preventive–proactive system, emphasizing that the requirements and measures of the concept of halal guide us toward the preservation of health and life, starting from faith, prayer, patience, hygiene, fasting, as well as food and nutrition. The lecture also addressed the challenge of the pandemic caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus, noting that research shows demand for halal products during the pandemic either grew or remained stable, which points to the association of halal with healthy. It was also stressed that a halal lifestyle includes, among other things, awareness of nature conservation, which is important both at the national and global level.

Mr. Dugonjić is the author of the book Halal – A Standard Tailored to Humans, which the young participants received and read in advance so that, after the lecture, they could take part in a Book Club during which they had the opportunity to discuss halal with the author and ask questions for which they were seeking answers in this field. In the Book Club, a discussion was opened on various topics with the active contribution of all participants and the author’s assistance in order to arrive at accurate answers.

At the end, the lecturer told the participants to be halal-excellent in life and work, and that:
“There is no leadership nor dialogue without faith, patience, and perseverance.”

The Youth School of Leadership and Dialogue is an educational programme for young people through which they build and strengthen leadership competencies, acquire new insights about the world and society, achieve higher intellectual and cultural development, strengthen the culture of dialogue, and become leaders of overall social progress. The programme aims to strengthen the role of young intellectuals with diverse academic backgrounds in contributing to the promotion and sharing of best practices in the protection of human rights and freedoms, in supporting conflict prevention and combating radical behaviours arising from misunderstandings of religion and tradition.

The Youth School of Leadership and Dialogue is part of the regional programme Balkan Youth School 2021, implemented in Croatia by the Centre for Dialogue Culture in cooperation with the Islamic Community in Croatia and with the support of the Office for Turkish Diaspora and Related Communities of the Government of the Republic of Turkey. The programme is focused on strengthening and nurturing interreligious dialogue.