The Will of Alah

In this story two law-breakers, Dogo and Sule, spend an inordinate amount of time discussing their criminal plans. We learn about their pasts as hardened criminals who have done jail time but refuse to be rehabilitated. Irony within this story is present immediately within the first paragraph. The name "Dogo", which in his language means tall, has been given to a "short and squat" man. In the next paragraph we learn that Dogo seems to be a strongly religious man, despite his wayward life of crime. This religious belief in a hardened criminal is not only ironic, but also hypocritical. How can a man who is so religious break laws and harm people? Further into the story, after reading how Dogo has been pressed by a judge to choose a better life, these two criminals come to a point in the road where "In front of them the broad path diverged into a series of tracks that twined away between the houses." I interpreted this part of the story to be representative of a choice wherein these two thieves had the option to turn back, choose a more honest path in life, and straighten out their lives of crime. Finally, after these two criminals steal a gourd which houses a cobra and are both fatally bitten, I got the total picture of the tale. "The Will of Alah", is a cautionary tale, one about the choices to live an unholy life of crime and how those choices will end up killing you in the end.