Page 23 - Pakistan Link - December 31, 2021

COMMENTARY DECEMBER 31, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23
10 Ways to Build Your Faith over Winter Break 2021

n By Samana Siddiqui fer them what you can in terms of cash. You
Chicago, IL can also make small bags of items that can
help them stay warm and safe. These include
ith more people vaccinated, but mittens, hats, scarves, hand and toe warmers,
a new COVID-19 variant emerg- sanitizer, snacks, and a water bottle. If you feel
Wing at this writing, the options for comfortable, buy them a warm meal and drink.
winter break 2021 are better than last year’s, You can also volunteer to serve meals at a
Alhamdu lillah. However, they are still not homeless shelter, as well as collect items they
what they were before the pandemic. need.
Still, while many like to travel during this
time, the benefit of a staycation remains, not 9.Make Juma Joyful
just in terms of safety from illness, as well as af- Each Friday that you are home during win-
fordability, but also as a way to build spirituality. ter break, fulfill the Sunnahs of Juma (taking a
Here are some ways you can use the winter bath, cutting nails, reading Surah al-Kahf), and
break as a time to become closer to God. watch an online Khutba if you cannot attend
Friday prayers in person. Make sure to pray
1. Fast four Rakat for Dhuhr, not two, as this is not
The shorter days of winter make it easier considered Juma prayer. But it will give you that
to catch up on missed fasts from Ramadan. ambience of this blessed day.
Fast and recreate a Ramadan meal at Iftar time, of winter break as a family or with a group of The pandemic has hit our Masjids very
featuring dates and winter fare, like soups and friends. Learn their translation as well. Encour- hard, as donations are often given in person, 10. Reconnect with Relatives You Have
s’mores. If you have older children, have them age each other by texting daily reminders to especially during Ramadan - when many Mas- Lost Touch with
help prepare the Iftar meals or take over them memorize. Whoever memorizes the most gets jids were in lockdown or at reduced capacity. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings
completely. a prize. In winter break, fundraise online for your lo- be upon him, said that a person who believes in
If you and your family and friends are fully cal mosque. Share the link for online donations. Allah and the Last Day should maintain good
vaccinated and feel safe meeting, host an Iftar. 4. Build a Masjid in your home See if there is some way to host your own online relationships with his or her relatives (Bukhari
Also feel free to add those who can’t make it via Designate a part of your home, no matter fundraising drive. and Muslim).
Zoom or FaceTime. how small, as your prayer area. Decorate it with With more free time during the break,
Islamic art and calligraphy, bookshelves filled 7. Raise money online for your local food make an effort to reach out to family members
2. Tahajjud and/or Qiyaam with copies of the Qur’an and Islamic books, bank you may have lost touch with, or mend your
Fajr begins later in winter, and the nights and beautiful prayer rugs. Last year, nearly 15 percent of American relationship with those you’ve had a falling out
are long. This makes it easier to wake up for families went hungry, according to the US Food with. It can start with a simple text or What-
Tahajjud, as well as to offer Qiyaam, continu- 5. Story time and Drug Administration. Host a virtual food sApp message, maybe even a phone call. Then,
ous prayer during nighttime. “The best prayer Every few nights, over hot chocolate, cook- drive, either for Feeding America, or your local you can build from there and start an online
after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.” ies, and dimmed lights, have family members food pantry. family group to share news and updates about
(Sahih Muslim). Don’t pass up this opportunity share a story on an Islamic theme. Ideas include each other. You will get the reward for staying
to become closer to God. Wake up family mem- being hopeful, gratefulness, Jesus in Islam, and 8. Look for and Serve the Homeless in touch and bringing relatives together.
bers to join you as well. death. You can do this in-person or virtually. Winter is one of the deadliest and hard- https://www.soundvision.com/article/10-
est times for the homeless, when cold weather ways-to-build-your-faith-over-winter-break-
3. Family/friends Quran challenge 6. Raise Money Online for Your Local cannot just make them sick, but literally kill. If 2021?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=0b3160
Memorize a new Surah for every week Masjid you see a homeless person asking for help, of- 6f-a8d8-4630-91ff-9e2edfee97ee
The Harvard Job Offer No One at Harvard Ever Heard of !

n By Jeffrey Gettleman, Kate geted, even after one of the women mad, inviting her to participate in a
Conger and Suhasini Raj alerted Harvard and the public about high-powered media conference at
New Delhi the unusual cyberoperation. Harvard. It was the same message
The incidents raised questions sent to Singh, though neither woman
idhi Razdan was all set to about why Harvard — despite its knew the other had been targeted.
travel to Harvard Univer- reputation for fiercely protecting its Flattered and curious, Sikander
Nsity to start a new job, and brand — did not act to stop the scam, began chatting with Ahmad on the
a new life, when she received a even after being explicitly warned WhatsApp instant messaging and
stunning email. about it. They also revealed how easy calling app. She was not thrown off
A famous Indian news anchor it is for wrongdoers to hide their by the fact that his phone number
at the apex of her career, Razdan be- identities on the internet, a risk that started with the country code of the
lieved she would soon start teaching is likely to get worse as the technol- United Arab Emirates, although he
at Harvard, a dream ticket out of an ogy used in digital fakery continues claimed to be in the Boston area.
almost unbearably toxic media at- to improve. Maybe he was a foreign student with
mosphere in India. The people — or person — be- Dubai connections, she thought. She
She had told the world that she hind the hoax were relentless. They remembers his voice: young, with a
was leaving the news business for created a constellation of interlock- South Asian accent, which she be-
America and she had freely shared ing personas across Twitter, Face- “It’s not like anything I’ve ever about Lucknow and then he invited lieved sounded Pakistani.
her most important personal infor- book, Gmail and WhatsApp to pur- seen,” said Bill Marczak, a senior re- her to participate in a high-powered Just like in Singh’s case, Ah-
mation with her new employer — sue the women for months at a time. search fellow at Citizen Lab, an insti- media conference. Harvard would mad connected her to Hirschman.
passport details, medical records, Unlike typical online fraudsters, they tute at the University of Toronto that pick up all expenses. She was in- What she did not know was that
bank account numbers, everything. did not appear to use the personal investigates cyberattacks on journal- trigued. But she grew suspicious after Hirschman and Ahmad were likely
But when she swiped open her information they extracted to steal ists. “It’s a huge amount of effort and Ahmad connected her to a colleague, fake personas — a search of Har-
phone in the middle of a January money or to extort the women, leav- no payoff that we’ve identified.” introduced as Alex Hirschman, who vard’s student directory showed no
night, she read the following mes- ing their ultimate goal a mystery. wrote to her Aug. 19 from a Gmail students by either name.
sage, from an associate dean at Har- Nearly a year later, it is still un- ‘This hotel fine for you?’ account rather than an official Har- Sikander also did not know that
vard: certain why Razdan and the other One at a time, the scammers se- vard.edu email address. On top of Ahmad’s Twitter account was one
“There is no record of, nor any women were targeted. Although the lected their prey. that, both Ahmad and Hirschman of several online personas that were
knowledge of, your name or your ap- scammers expressed support online The first known target: Rohini had telephone numbers that were interlinked. Ahmad and Hirschman
pointment.” for the Hindu nationalist movement Singh, an outspoken female journal- not based in the United States. seemed so friendly, sending her com-
The email closed: “I wish you in India, they shed little light on their ist who had broken some big stories Hirschman and Ahmad then asked pliments — and confirmations for
the best for your future.” decision to trick reporters. that powerful men in India did not her for passport details and some the flights and hotels they claimed to
Razdan felt dizzy and nause- The perpetrators have success- like. Singh delivered a blockbuster photos, which were to be used for have booked.
ated. She had thrown away a high- fully covered their tracks — at least, article in 2017 about the business promotional purposes. A few days “This room and this hotel fine
flying career in journalism and fallen most of them. The New York Times fortunes of the son of India’s cur- later, convinced their entreaty was a for you?” one of their messages said.
into an intricate online hoax. reviewed private messages, emails rent minister of home affairs. She is scam, Singh ceased communication. Still, something told her to be-
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Raz- and metadata the scammers sent a freelance contributor to an online The next target was another fe- ware. When she asked for a formal
dan said. to the women as well as archives of publication called The Wire that is male journalist, Zainab Sikander. An invite from a dean, it never came. Si-
The hoax that ensnared Raz- the scammers’ tweets and photos among the most critical of the Hin- up-and-coming political commen- kander then broke off contact as well.
dan exploited Harvard’s prestige, the that the scammers claimed were of du nationalist government in India. tator, Sikander campaigns against At the time, India was dominat-
confusion caused by the pandemic, themselves. The Times also relied on She has also amassed nearly 796,000 discrimination toward Muslims, a ed by a seismic news event: Kashmir.
and her own digital naïveté. At the analysis from researchers at Stanford Twitter followers. In mid-August growing problem under the Hindu The Indian government had sudden-
time she went public, what had hap- University and the University of To- 2019, Singh received a Twitter mes- nationalist government. She has also ly wiped away the autonomy of the
pened to her seemed like a shocking ronto who study online abuse, and sage from someone calling himself written and posted many critical ob- Kashmir region, a restive, Muslim-
but isolated incident. But it wasn’t. from a cybersecurity expert who ex- Tauseef Ahmad, who said he was a servations of the administration of majority territory that has been the
Razdan was one of several promi- amined Razdan’s computer. master’s student at the Harvard Ken- Prime Minister Narendra Modi. source of a never-ending feud be-
nent female journalists and media The identities of the scammers nedy School and from Singh’s home- On Aug. 22, 2019, Sikander, too, tween India and Pakistan.
personalities in India who were tar- remain a secret. town, Lucknow. They chitchatted received a Twitter message from Ah- HARVARD, P24
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