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Amid a bombardment of news about ethnic clashes and religious conflict, an Islamic scholar has made international headlines for advancing interfaith understanding. History professor Azyumardi Azra has officially become the first Indonesian to receive the prestigious Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an award bestowed by Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom.

He joins the ranks of international personalities who have previously received the CBE, like journalist Christiane Amanpour, scientist Stephen Hawking, author A.S. Byatt and entertainers Eric Clapton, Elton John and Brian May, among many others.

“I was called by the British Embassy in June,” Azyumardi said in an interview on Thursday, the day after he received the award at the residence of the British ambassador to Indonesia. “The ambassador, Martin Hatfull, asked if I would accept it or not. It’s an honor, how could I turn it down?”

The CBE is typically given to key players in regional affairs who have made an impact in their field of expertise. When Azyumardi told his family about the award, they were ecstatic. “My [four] children checked on the Internet to find out more about what it is about after I told them. They were excited.”

And the 55-year-old, an avowed football fan, was made even prouder when he heard one of his children say, “Whoa! David Beckham and Alex Ferguson are your subordinates now.” Football star Beckham and manager and coach Ferguson both received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire award, which is one level lower than the CBE. Other OBE recipients include author J.K. Rowling, poet David Frost and actor Pierce Brosnan.

Azyumardi, a former rector of the Islamic state school Syarif Hidayatullah University in Jakarta, was honored for his dedication to advancing interfaith understanding in the world. “The honor comes with more responsibilities and challenges. I am aware of that. Worldwide, interfaith problems exist, and now, some countries are riddled with other problems, such as immigrant issues,” he said.

Indeed, it is a large responsibility that rests on his shoulders, coming from a country where nearly 90 percent of the population is Muslim and with a reputation as a hotbed of radical Islamic groups with ties to terrorism.

In addition, incidents of intolerance have also been in the spotlight lately. The latest incident happened on Friday, when a group of unidentified men in a Bogor village torched a mosque and some houses of members of the Ahmadiyah sect, a minority Islamic group. Earlier in the week, the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) threatened the annual Q! Film Festival, which showcases films from and about the gay community.

A recent survey among 1,200 Muslim adults by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society on religious intolerance has even revealed that the Muslim majority has become less tolerant over the past decade. But Azyumardi warned against taking the news and surveys merely on face value. “The rate of religious intolerance has always gone up and down, depending on the situation [when the survey was taken] and the methodology used in the survey,” he said.

He even pointed out that religious intolerance — for domestic or international contexts — has gone down. “We don’t see anti-America protests done massively. There are cases like [the religious conflict with the HKBP Christian Church in] Bekasi, but these are isolated cases,” he said. “Terrorism, with its jihad war, has also become isolated. Fairly speaking, it’s been over a decade, but [the terrorists] don’t grow bigger, they only change their tactics.”

The once popular conspiracy theory of CIA or Zionist agents behind the Bali bombings has been rendered obsolete and abandoned by several leaders from mainstream Islamic organizations. “When [Abu Bakar] Bashir was caught and detained, we didn’t hear other Islamic leaders condemning the arrest,” Azyumardi said. “Principally, the rising radicalism and violence by groups claiming to represent Islam cannot be used as the only measurement to conclude that there is a growing trend of religious intolerance here.

“In the past, back in 1965, there were more churches burned down for allegedly protecting Communist Party members and that has caused a lot of social tension. During [former President] Suharto’s government, there was more violence, but very few were reported by the media, which then was very much repressed.”

He added that in the wake of the reform movement in 1998-99, prolonged sectarian conflicts also broke out in Ambon, Maluku, and Poso, Central Sulawesi. He also said that the two largest Islamic organizations, the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, could be representative of how Islam is practiced in Indonesia. The two organizations, for instance, differ in deciding the first and the last day of the fasting month. They also differ in what local traditions or cultures they bring to their practices.

“Islam in Indonesia is a moderate one. It is, and will always be, because ours is a form of Sunni Islam in which there is no centralistic leadership. To know Islam in Indonesia more, this must be done through representative groups,” he said.

“There are numerous other groups that use different kinds of schools of thought and schools of law. The differences, called khilafiyah in Islam terminology, or trivial differences, are common in Islam.”

Azyumardi said that the rising trend of radicalism in Islam in the country is mostly influenced by external factors. “It’s not homegrown. Most leaders of the radical groups are graduates of Afghanistan or Mindanao [in the Philippines]. They bring their influences here and recruit people to grow,” he said.

This is inevitable in the era when there is freedom of expression, he said. Radical Islamic groups that do not use violence to spread their cause cannot be easily suppressed. “People are now free to shout that they want to set an Islamic country here or demand Shariah law to be imposed. But they cannot be banned because of those differences.”

The government cannot do anything about them unless they violate the law. “To disband even a small group like FPI, they have to go through a long process of trial,” he added.

Under Suharto’s rule, an organization that dissented with the government saw the arrest of its leader and its banning. “The emergence of these [dissenting] groups could be viewed as the unexpected consequence of democracy,” he said.

Azyumardi said the key to resolving the issue is the enforcement of the law. The groups can have different ideological views, but once they violate the law, they have to deal with the authorities. For their part, the police should also not hesitate in imposing the law. “I’ve already told the National Police’s chief detective to take the toughest measures and to not be hesitant of the backlash in cases involving these groups,” he said.

Words of experience from a boy born in Lubuk Alung, a small town in West Sumatra. Azyumardi, whose name means emerald, grew up in a modest family. His mother, a teacher, often brought home classic Indonesian literature by Hamka, Utay Tatang Sontani and A Moeis for him to read.

“My life is like a running water. I just follow [where it flows],” he said.

He never dreamed he would achieve his current stature. Growing up, he was very much in love with literature and thought of becoming a writer. His poems and short stories, some written in English, were published in the both now-defunct English daily Indonesia Times and news magazine Panji Masyarakat.

Azyumardi joined the Muslim Students Association (HMI) when he was at his second year at the Jakarta-based State Islamic Institute in 1971. “My institute’s rector, Professor Harun Nasution, greatly influenced my way of thinking. He was the one who introduced me to the term and practice of rational theology,” he said.

According to Azyumardi, Harun tried to make sure that graduates of the institute were those who were rational, modern, democratic and tolerant. “In short, our school had to be progressive,” he said.

Other than Harun, Azyumardi’s upbringing has perhaps been responsible for laying the greatest foundation for his achievements in advancing interfaith understanding. “My father is from a Muhammadiyah family and my mother is from NU. Differences can always be resolved,” he said.