The recent massacres in Paris and San Bernardino, demonstrated, once again, the so-called Islamic State’s ability to win over disillusioned Muslims. Using a mixture of textual literalism of Qur’anic verses, the terrorist group is able to persuade young men and women to pledge allegiance to it and commit violence in its name.

ISIL’s recruiting prowess extends to extremists already fighting on the ground by luring them to abandon their smaller, poorer, less-equipped groups. An example is the former commander of the Dawood brigade of the Syrian rebels, whose corrupt soul was seduced by money, power, and a loose rein to commit the most heinous of “war” crimes.

Undoubtedly, the most lethal of such recruiting tricks is the ideology that drives ISIL, and Al Quaida before it. An ideology of seventh century religious extremism coupled with political aspirations to rule the world.

Fighting ISIL, not only in Syria, Iraq, Libya, the Egyptian Sani, and anywhere it continues to occupy, must include a military component. Yes, it is unquestionable that we can, if we are insane enough, carpet bomb a country until it glows. Others advocate a more modern and nimble military tactics such as special forces going in and quickly out to cause irreparable damage to the enemy, which is in my view a far better strategy.

We are equipped with an awe-striking brain with abilities to assure our survival, including the “reptile-like”, aka, the limbic system part where our primordial fear originates. What distinguishes a wise mature person from a more “primitive” one could very well be in how and how much we use our brain to react to fear.

We also have the ability to prevent fear from destroying us. Here is when anger may prove helpful, since feeling the profound power of anger can actually push us to fear less and be far more aggressive.

It is so easy to understand the value of our fear and our anger emotions. It is, however, impossible for me to wrap my head around the strategy of some presidential candidates who exploit only these two emotions to deliberately stoke the flames in crowds already hypnotized by fear and anger, let alone strong constitution of bigotry.

Negative feelings against those who are different from “us” also reside in our reptile brain, and can also be explained as a component of assuring survival. When we let only that part of our brain dictate our feelings/actions about/against those who are different, then we end up thinking of the world as a “jungle” and of us as primitive predators.

Let’s not forget that even those who are different do follow the very same blue print.

In fighting ISIL, we must conquer the ideology that feeds it. It is blindingly clear that ISIL, and its ilk, have murdered and raped and plundered and tortured so many, but it should also be remembered that the overwhelming majority of its victims are Muslims.

This is not just an accident, it a result of the same ideology in its dark demonic abyss they thrive.

The genesis of ISIL is owed to Al Zarquawi (the godfather of Al Quaida in Iraq). Yes, they targeted our troops because they believed them to be occupiers’, but the Iraqi Shiites were their prime target. In extremist political Islam doctrine (known as Wahhabism or Salafism), which was sown and nurtured by oil money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar for decades, the Shiest are heretics and apostates who should be taught a lesson by savagely dislodging them from the earth. It is this ideology which we must conquer. And it is certainly not the sole Islamic ideology.

Ideology cannot be conquered by killing those who live by it, but by helping the overwhelming majority of Muslims to shame it.

It can only be conquered by drying out the swamps in that demonic abyss and by protecting the young from becoming lured. None of this can be done without the help of Muslims everywhere, especially in Arab Muslim countries.

Saving humanity from ISIL requires understanding of who our enemy is and who is not. It requires vast knowledge of the nature of the enemy. We also need great efficacy in balancing so many competing interests.

Not only our partisan competing interest, but more importantly those who must be our allies – Arab Muslims, that is. And for that we need to be not only resolute and consistent, we also must be patient.

Editor’s note: Mohey Mowafy of Marquette is a retired Northern Michigan University professor.