Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 113
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 113 Rushdie, on his part, sought to reconcile fiction with religion, and his ‘philosophy’ also subverted basic Islamic beliefs. He also strongly advocated freedom of speech and expression. Theology repelled Bruno because he hated dogmas. At the age of 18 he began to doubt the Trinity. He despised religious symbols, especially the images of saints. He could not conceive of God as three persons or accept the doctrine of incarnation. And when the Dominicans began a process against him for heresy, he fled his native Naples. He shed his monastic name and religious habit but not his intellectual habit of sceptical inquiry. He claimed a right to ‘philosophic freedom’ and exercised it boldly. How remarkably similar is the story of Rushdie. He came from a Muslim background but from a very early age he thought the tenets of Islam too cumbersome and, as has been proven from his early works, he wrote on the restrictive nature of the faith and claimed the right to express his views with total freedom. In his exile, Bruno roamed from city to city in western Europe, studying, teaching and writing. He wrote book after book. Honours began coming his way. Even the King of France personally awarded him a special lectureship in philosophy. Subsequently he lectured at London, Oxford, Prague, Zurich, and Frankfurt. So has been the case of Rushdie. During his exile, he too has roamed Europe taking his case to all and sundry for sympathy. He has continued to write and give lectures and has been bestowed with literary awards by his supporters. Bruno’s views and massive assault on Aristotelianism brought him into direct conflict with the church. His differing thoughts vio- lated Scripture but, regardless, he continued to go on with his con- troversial work. Bruno finally fell into the hands of the Inquisition when he dared to return to Italy in 1592. He was charged with blasphemy, and at first Bruno defended himself vigorously, denying all charges of blasphemy and heretical errors. He claimed philosophic freedom to