Allah is Not Obliged

(Note: the full title of the story is Allah is not obliged to be fair about everything he decides to do here on earth). 

The author and his narrator, Birahima, come from the country of  Côte d’Ivoire. Birahima is ten years old and becomes a child-soldier while travelling to Liberia to live with his aunt after his mother’s death. It’s an interesting story that gives the reader some background on the surrounding countries, Libya, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, and how they affect Côte d’Ivoire. We also see the history of warlords such as Samuel Doe and Taylor as well as dictators like Qaddafi.

I enjoyed having some historical facts and background to help aid the story and give a fuller picture of what it was like in the 1990’s in Côte d’Ivoire and its neighbours. It was also nice to have Birahima use African sayings and his tribes’ language spread throughout the book to get a glimpse of his culture and how he thinks. For example, one saying that is common in his tribe was “They’d stick a bee right in your eye,” which was a way of saying someone was cruel. I liked hearing the typical sayings that Birahima would use and he would often use dictionaries to explain the ‘French,’  and often Western, equivalent. It definitely helped to show the culture and helped me to learn something new.

The reader can also see the customs and beliefs of different tribes. For example, Birahima is part of the Malinké tribe which believes children are cursed if they kill their parents. Birahima’s mother died from an ulcer and had a fight with Birahima before her death, so we see him struggle with this belief that he killed his mother and is cursed. Another cultural belief we read about it is the grigrimen, these are considered powerful men who create grigris that protect people and give luck, as well as other properties. The grigrimen are considered to be pagan since some tribes, like Birahima’s, are devout Muslims.

The story shows that many of the child soldiers joined out of necessity, for survival. Most didn’t have a home to go back to or their home life was abusive. Most kids joined because they were fed well and had places to sleep. They also heard stories about how privileged the child soldiers were and how great their life was. They joined to be a part of the fantasy of prestigious child soldiers.Allah is Not Obliged is mostly the history of the warlords and what Birahima sees, so in a sense, the story doesn’t talk much about what Birahima does or how he feels;  it’s as if we the reader are Birahima. I would’ve liked to hear more about Birahima’s personal life story as a child soldier rather than what he observed in the camp, and information about the warlords.

This novel is a sad, interesting tale of a child who becomes a child soldier to survive while searching for his aunt. It is definitely written in a child’s perspective with repeated sentences and the way he tells the story.