Whoever has Died Without having an Imam Died a Death of the pre-Islamic Age of Ignorance

[1] The one who dies having failed to recognise, pay court to and heed the legitimate, Divinely appointed Imam, on account of wilful negligence of his religious obligations, has nullified any erstwhile sincerity of his convictions, and thus he is damned, though he remains a Muslim in worldly life, with the rulings of Islam applying upon him, as the Imam explains in the first tradition in chapter 21. But how far be that from true belief! Consider [49:14] of the Qurʾān.