COMMENT When war is declared the battle lines are clear: the combatants can clearly be seen facing each other with belligerence and murderous rage. The side with overwhelming military preponderance can claim victory, while the vanquished can only lick their wounds and mourn their defeat.

But those were wars of the past. Today, the enemies do not mass on the battlefields. Neither do they possess superior military hardware. Their firepower comes from their religion and from their missionary zeal. Their single-minded goal is to convert the world to their faith. They call themselves the Islamic State.

The rise of the Islamic State represents a grave danger to world peace because these supposedly soldiers of God are hell-bent on destroying everything in their path: democracy, liberty, equality, fraternity, brotherhood, tolerance. Every thing Western and Christian is fair game for annihilation.

Eventually, a caliphate will be established on the ruins of civilisation. For the IS does not subscribe to modernity. Its rule will be harsh, brutish, merciless. These blighted warriors will drag the lighted world back to the dark age, where all will be stripped of their dignity and self-worth.

Now there are shrill cries to bomb the IS militants to oblivion. A war has been declared on them and war planes have been shrieking across the skies to hit their strongholds in the deserts of the Middle East. But where are they? Where are their armies? They are nowhere to be seen because the IS is everywhere.

They merge well with the crowd

The IS militants can be anybody: students, professionals, thugs, children, sympathisers. They merge well with the crowd and can emerge as fanatical fighters and suicide bombers. Ironically, they use modern tools to recruit young minds to their cause. Like cancer, the IS cells have spread malignantly.

The reach of the IS is far, deep and insidious. They are roaming in the West and have infiltrated the East with seeming impunity. They are leaving trails of destruction whenever the demonic urge seizes them. At first, they were treated like heroes and admired for their ability and skills to demolish far superior enemies. Then they revealed their true colours and are roundly and shrilly condemned.

Despite universal condemnation, the IS still draws attention worldwide. In Malaysia, a recent survey found 11 percent of the population displayed “favourable attitudes” to the IS. It is a small number but nevertheless disturbing. Some Malaysians have fought on the side of the IS and paid for their lives. Many sympathisers were nabbed before they could wreak havoc.

For Malaysia, a sudden upsurge in IS activities will deal a fatal blow to the fabric of a multi-racial and multi-religious society. It will certainly fuel strife and chaos because ultimately, the conflict will degenerate into a war of religion and race.

Is there a concrete plan to push back the IS tide? Under the Obama doctrine, young people will stand up to “violent extremism” not by force of arms but by building “ interfaith dialogue to promote tolerance”.

Give this doctrine a chance. It might work or it might not. If it works, the IS will be defeated without shedding blood. If it fails, rivers of blood will continue to flow. And a murderous caliphate will rule far and wide, not under the influence of a compassionate Islam but according to the senseless dictates of bloodthirsty, mindless, maniacal terrorists.

PHLIP RODRIGUES is a member of the Malaysiakini team.