The weight here lies not in the demand for honesty itself—that's well-worn advice—but in Iqbal's suggestion that keeping one's word is the *bedrock of existence*. To be "real and worthy of trust" means your character coheres; you become predictable not through rigidity but through integrity, the kind of person others can actually build plans around. When a tradesperson returns your deposit as promised, or a friend shows up when they've said they will, you witness this realness in action—they've chosen to honor their word even when no one was watching or when it cost them something. This matters because in a world of cheap talk and convenient excuses, the person who simply *does what they say* becomes almost rare enough to seem noble.