“A man was mowed down by a car and then attacked with knives by two men in what seemed like a totally unprovoked attack. Later reports suggest the attackers uttered statements claiming their reasons for the attack were political, especially their grievance for Muslims suffering around the world. As a Muslim Imam, let me start by expressing my sincere condolonces to the family and loved ones of the deceased. There is no justification whatsoever of this kind of cold blooded murder anywhere in the world. I too, like many in this country am not happy with the military expeditions that our country has ventured into over the past decade. In fact, I'm quite certain, many military personnel and families are also not happy at them being sent out to Iraq and Afghanistan etc. However, this is the decision of a democratic government and those who are not happy have a democratic right to protest through democratic means. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands, no matter what the grievance. And then to kill someone in broad daylight, apparently mutilate his body, something which the Prophet (saw) did not allow even in the battlefield, how can one justify this gruesome act? It is very easy for some to muddle this act with the suffering of Muslims around the world and we really need to separate the two. Two wrongs do not make a right. We have to condemn this killing unreservedly. As Imams and leaders in the UK, stand up responsibly and be clear in your condemnation and do not let people peddle you towards justifying this act, because of the wrong that is happening elsewhere. It should also be pointed out to those who will paint the whole Muslim community with the same brush. While two men apparently from the Muslim faith were committing this heinous crime, hundreds and thousands of Muslim Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers were helping people in this country, saving peoples lives, regardless of faith, colour or creed. Many Muslim doctors were in theatre saving people's lives at that exact time. While these two men claiming to be Muslims were carrying out their calculated brazen murder on the streets of London, hundreds and thousands of Muslim men and women were educating our children in schools up and down the country. Teaching them to be good citizens, living side by side, treating each other with respect. Some Muslims were cleaning our streets, cleaning our hospitals to save people from infection, some were feeding the elderly, some were reporting on the incident as journalists. Don't tarnish a whole community because of the actions of 2 criminals. Don't tarnish a whole faith because of the actions of two murderers. Muslims condemn this act unreservedly. ”
—Imam Yunus Dudhwala, East London, UK
When Did Americans Stop Speaking Like The British?
Before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies, mostly spoke with a rhotic accent. The rhotic accent means that all hard r’s were pronounced, like “hard.” Once we had the first sound recordings after the American Revolution, some three hundred years after the colonists first settled in the New World, the accents of the British and Americans were discernibly different. The Americans had kept the rhotic accent.
But the British spoke with non-rhotic accents — “hard” was pronounced more like “hahd.” Sometime in the 1800s, not long after the Industrial Revolution, the non-rhotic accent appeared in southern England. It quickly spread, especially among the middle- and upper-class. Non-rhotic accents became signifier of class, so important in England — especially when traditional social statuses were being upended by the economic revolution. Because the Received Pronunciation (RP) accent was regionally “neutral” and easy to understand, it spread across England and the empire through the armed forces, the civil service and, later, the BBC. Along the seacoast of America, it caught on as well among the upper classes. And since the East Coast was the social and economic powerhouse of America through much of the 19th century, non-rhotic meant high-class in America. As industry shifted, though, areas with rhotic came back into power. General American (GenAm) which is used by broadcasters and radio hosts, is non-rhotic.
Now, of course, with the quickly shifting languages, most areas of both America and Great Britain do not use the standard accents. In the US, only a small part of the midwest uses GenAm. And in Great Britain, a smaller country with many more accents packed into it, only the upper class naturally uses RP.
