Question 2. What is the rationale for establishing IONA as a formal organization?

While there is a strong personal aspect to religion, it is obvious that much of human religiosity takes place within a communal context.  This is why the defining revelatory experience of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) led within his own lifetime to the establishment of a community of believers, called the ummah.  Those who accepted the call of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had to come together in the form of a community so that they could fulfill their divinely ordained obligations in a mutually supportive way.

The rationale for establishing an organization like IONA stems from our understanding of Islam itself.  Indeed, a moment