Kamál, 05 Masá’il (Questions), 182 B.E.
Quotes for Reflection
Say: O people of God! Adorn your temples with the adornment of trustworthiness and piety. Help, then, your Lord with the hosts of goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character. 1 We have forbidden you dissension and conflict in My Books, and My Scriptures, and My Scrolls, and My Tablets, and have wished thereby naught else save your exaltation and advancement. Unto this testify the heavens and the stars thereof, and the sun and the radiance thereof, and the trees and the leaves thereof, and the seas and the waves thereof, and the earth and the treasures thereof. We pray God to assist His loved ones, and aid them in that which beseemeth them in this blest, this mighty, and wondrous station. Moreover We beseech Him to graciously enable those who surround Me to observe that which My Pen of Glory hath enjoined upon them. — Bahá’u’lláh 2
Question for Consideration
What is a suggested relationship between the “adornment of trustworthiness and piety” and the call to “help, then, your Lord with the hosts of goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character”?
Perplexity Pro Response 3
The passage links inner spiritual qualities to outward action: trustworthiness and piety are the inner “adornment” of the believer, and goodly deeds and praiseworthy character are the visible “hosts” that express and confirm those inner qualities in the world. [1]
Inner adornment as foundation
Trustworthiness and piety are repeatedly described in the Bahá’í writings as fundamental virtues, even “the goodliest vesture” and “the greatest of adornments,” implying that they form the basic spiritual condition of the soul before God. They belong to the inner “temple” of the believer, shaping intention, motive, and orientation toward the divine. [1]
Deeds as the outward “hosts”
At the same time, Bahá’u’lláh states that the divine purpose is to “array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds,” showing that character and action are the outward form of those inner virtues. Elsewhere He affirms that God’s Cause is to be “assisted by the hosts of goodly deeds and a righteous character,” echoing the same martial image of “hosts” as the practical means by which faith advances in society. [1]
Relationship between the two phrases
Within this framework, the “adornment of trustworthiness and piety” can be seen as the interior spiritual state that equips a person for true service, while “help… your Lord with the hosts of goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character” is the call to let that state overflow into visible conduct. Inner adornment without deeds would be incomplete, and deeds without that adornment would lack the purity and godliness that give them real spiritual potency. [1]
Spiritual warfare redefined
The imagery of “hosts” suggests that the true struggle in this “blest, mighty, and wondrous station” is waged not with physical force, but through moral and spiritual qualities made active in life. Trustworthiness and piety thus function as the soul’s spiritual armor, and goodly deeds and praiseworthy character as its advancing forces that overcome dissension and conflict and lead to “exaltation and advancement.” [1]
Citations
- Trustworthiness: A Cardinal Bahá’í Virtue. Compiled by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, Revised August 1990 – Bahá’í Reference Library
Footnotes
- Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. “Trustworthiness: A Cardinal Bahá’í Virtue.” Bahá’í Reference Library, Revised August 1990. https://www.bahai.org/r/246967390. ↩︎
- Bahá’u’lláh. Tablets of Baháʾ’u’ʾlláh, Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Translated by Habib Taherzadeh. 1st ed. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1978, 120-121. https://www.bahai.org/r/731230661. ↩︎
- Perplexity Pro. “Adornment of Trustworthiness and Piety.” Edited by Steve Bosserman. December 14, 2025. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/say-o-people-of-god-adorn-your-wv6H6gCeQRmfB19tbelA4Q#0 ↩︎
Frameworks for Understanding the World 