"Some people appeal to God while they have no knowledge of the Imam of their time, or oppose him. They should enter the Ark of Noah of the time because all other ships will be drowned. Therefore follow the (spiritual) authority and your leader, so that you may sit in the house of the Truth, entering the Ark of the Noah of your time, and reaching the land safely. That authority, that Noah of your time, is the Imam of your time. Know him, and enter the Ark of Noah, i.e. the path of his preaching (tariqa'i dawat-i u), so that your faith may become perfect and your souls may become safe from calamities. The house which has no windows or openings remains dark. Similarly, the heart of one who does not know the Imam of his time, who is the sun of that period, remains dark, without light and enlightenment. It always remains in darkness of irritation and enmity. Darkness causes one suffering and to stray from the path, becoming lost. Therefore the one who does not know the Imam of the time (hadir), and regards him as absent (gha'ib) from the world, is erring, alien to the community, and an enemy. People like these, owing to the absence of spiritual guidance, become split into sects, continually struggling, quarrelling and opposing each other. They are at war with every other community until at last they perish."
 

(Pir Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi, p.29)