Roshana Aboosally Mohamed is the only former female chief trustee of a mosque in Sri Lanka – the Daftar Jailani Mosque in Balangoda – and carries with her rich layers and histories that stretch beyond the personal and political when encapsulating her inspiring story.
The Jailani Mosque is considered a ‘Sufi Shrine in Sri Lanka’ (McGilvray, 2004), which sits atop thousands of feet above land level. It is considered a mountain ‘retreat’ that has long been a meaningful meditative spot, reached through a strenuous hike through thick, jungle terrain. Roshana was appointed as Trustee by the Waqfs Boards in the mid-1990s, but her story took a turn at a moment in 2004. Her father, another Trustee of the Jailani mosque at the time, was unable to climb the mountain leading up to the mosque. All the same, he had no doubt that his daughter would be able to complete the arduous task in place of him. Guided by prayers and persistent moral support, Roshana shined through on the exercise and proved to everyone she was just as capable as anyone else. Apart from holding the position of Trustee, Roshana was now given the additional responsibilities of conducting religious and administrative duties at the mosque by her father when he was unable to do so. Roshana reminisces in his belief that she was the most capable even among many eligible men. She truly believed it was her sheer commitment, endurance and passion for the role that was the reason it was awarded to her, and never allowed her gender to stand in the way of that.
Daftar Jailani has been a territory that is facing religious and political challenges. The Sri Lankan Archaeology Department has identified two Brahmic inscriptions of an old Buddhist monastery on a rock face on the Kurugala site. This inevitably led to the involvement of Buddhist-nationalist extremist group, the Bodu Balu Sena, who staged protests reclaiming this land back, as well as intervention from defence minister in 2013, Gotabaya Rajapakse, who personally summoned Roshana (among other Muslim personalities) for rounds of questioning and required them to remain on site while he personally inspected the site. Surprisingly, too, McGilvray claims that Rajapakse ‘brought along a Muslim cleric from Colombo … admonish[ing] the Jailani authorities for allowing a woman to administer the shrine.’ (McGilvray, 2016). This is one of the telling examples that depict the obstacles Muslim women face in overcoming the patriarchally-placed barriers that would otherwise hinder her ability to be the first, and only, female chief trustee of a mosque, not only with a financial stronghold in the Jailani Mosque but also significant administerial and decision-making duties. However, Roshana insists that she never allowed herself to be bulldozed into what is considered a conventional ‘Muslim woman’ by others. Her definition, and others’ definitions for it have always been different, and this, she believes, is the true secret to her achievements in her religious and professional life as a trustee and as a lawyer – a career that began at a time when similar role models were scarce in the Muslim community.
With a deeply-embedded sense of family, security and open-mindedness, Roshana has built up her sense of identity and determination by being influenced through those closest around her. Her parents, grandparents and siblings played a very important part in her liberal upbringing and led her to think in ways that she constitutes as ‘normal’ – a yearning for education, a passion for the arts and the ability to be religious and spiritual inwardly, armed with the invaluable gift to be able to think for herself.
Roshana is aware and concerned about the future of the country, and also for Daftar Jailani in the face of its bubbling ethnic tensions, but in her true characteristic spirit, is optimistic based on what her beautiful town has achieved over the years. Particularly in Balangoda, she has seen a banding together of different faiths – from Singhalese people, to Muslims, to Tamil minorities – and she believes this integration helps people on individual levels to achieve their goals. I’m sure there were, and are, others that face discrimination. I’m sure there were,’ Roshana sympathises, and recalled when people outside of Balangoda had much to say about her own position as a female trustee. But her hard work and commitment never caused her to waver from grabbing opportunities and fulfilling possibilities. This, she owes to her ‘strong family unit’, a reason for her motivation and influence on the woman she is today. Even McGilvray recounts, ‘the Aboosally family has a reputation for its forthright and progressive women, and Roshana has weathered the BBS assault on Jailani with grace and aplomb, seeking to preserve her father’s vision of the shrine as a space of religious tolerance and individual spiritual fulfillment.’ (McGilvray, 2016)
She shares with Everystory a humbling image of her grandchildren. In her own words, Roshana says, ‘the motivation in the work I do and my resistance to hard line interpretations of religion and laws and the lack of empathy that sadly is propagated by the media, is to ensure that there can be freedom of thought, tolerance of differences and appreciation of the bounties of nature for all children - as with my grandchildren.’
(Sakina Aliakbar is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka and holds a Creative Writing Master from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She writes for screen and in prose, ranging between fiction, creative non-fiction and nonfiction, predominantly focusing on issues surrounding culture, identity and sexuality.)
Reference Links and Further Reading
‘Jailani: A Sufi Shrine in Sri Lanka’, Dennis B. McGilvray, 2004, http://jailani.org/mcgilvray.htm
‘Islam, Sufism and Everyday Politics of Belonging in South Asia’, Dennis B. McGilvray, 2016, https://www.colorado.edu/faculty/mcgilvray-dennis/sites/default/files/attached-files/mcgilvray_2016_islamic_and_buddhist_impacts_on_daftar_jailani.pdf