[inquest]

"There would still have to be an official organization, otherwise anybody could just up and call himself an imam."

Yep. That would be the case. Though not everyone would have to agree, or listen to him. It is more of a bottom-up thing than a top-down thing.

Then it sounds like what you're describing is freedom of religion. In what way is it "established"?

[lugsoul]

If you want to argue that Islam is not "established" in Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or a couple of dozen other places, go right ahead. Please try. My statement is an accurate description of the way religious leaders come to be such in that faith. I'm sorry that it is not what you are used to, but that is the way it is. Not every faith works like yours.

As far as "how" it is established, the primary ways are - use of the power of the state to impose "law" which is decreed by the faith, and use of the power of the state to impose social pressure to promote the practice of Islam. Ever heard of the "Committee for the Promotion of Virture and Prevention of Vice?"

The point is the same. A religion doesn't have to have ordination, a hierarchy, or a building to be "established." The First Church didn't have those things either, you know, but it was no less a religion for it.