No. 44 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Concealing One
In calling upon The Concealing One, we turn to a God whose mercy is vast enough to cover what we cannot bear to expose.
I call on Thee O Almighty, O Succoring One, O Concealing One! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer
Plain meaning · Concealing
from “conceal”: To hide or withdraw from observation; to cover; to cover or keep from sight; to prevent the discovery of; to withhold knowledge of. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. Prov. xxv. 2. Declare ye among the nations, . . . publish and conceal not. Jer. 1. 2. He which finds him shall deserve our thanks, . . . He that conceals him, death. Shak. Syn.
Definition from Webster's Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain). When these Writings were translated into English, the translator relied on Webster's New International Dictionary, 1934 edition, of the same Webster's tradition. source
What “The Concealing One” means
The meaning above is the plain dictionary definition of the word. What follows reflects on it as a name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.
Among the names and attributes of God that appear across sacred traditions, 'The Concealing One' carries a quality that is both tender and profound. At its heart, this name points to a divine capacity to cover over, to draw a veil of mercy across the frailties, failings, and wounds that human beings accumulate simply by living. It is not a name about secrecy in any shadowy sense. Rather, it speaks to the grace of a God who does not expose every fault, does not hold every imperfection up to harsh light, but instead shelters the vulnerable with something closer to a parent's instinct to protect.
There is also a layer of awe in this name that deserves quiet attention. The divine Essence itself, in Bahá'í understanding, remains ultimately beyond human grasp, hidden not out of indifference but because the infinite simply cannot be contained within finite perception. The Concealing One, then, is not only a God who covers us; it is a God who, in some sense, cannot be fully uncovered by any created mind. This double quality, God as the one who veils our shortcomings and who is Himself beyond all veiling, gives the name a remarkable depth. It invites humility: we are hidden from nothing in the divine sight, and yet we are met there with mercy rather than judgment.
When this name appears in the Long Healing Prayer, it arrives in a cluster of names, Almighty, Succoring, Sufficing, Healing, Abiding, that together build a picture of a God who is at once immensely powerful and intimately present. The Concealing One does not stand apart from healing in that list; it belongs to it. The act of covering shame, softening exposure, and shielding fragility is itself a form of healing, one that reaches the parts of us that medical language sometimes cannot name.
Calling on The Concealing One for healing
When we are ill, whether in body, mind, or spirit, one of the heaviest burdens we carry is the sense of vulnerability that illness brings. We feel exposed: to our own limitations, to the worry of those who love us, sometimes to a kind of grief over who we were before the struggle began. Calling on The Concealing One in the Long Healing Prayer is an act of placing that exposure into hands greater than our own. It is a way of saying: I cannot hide my weakness from You, and I do not need to. You see all of it, and You cover it with mercy. This is not a request that reality be ignored; it is a request for the grace to bear reality without being crushed by it.
It is worth holding this name gently, without demanding from it more than it offers. Prayer, including this one, is a turning of the heart, and the wisdoms of both faith and medicine belong together in the care of any person who is suffering. Please do not set aside the guidance of qualified physicians and healthcare providers; seeking their help is itself a form of honoring the gift of life. What The Concealing One offers in the space of prayer is something that runs alongside medical care rather than replacing it: a sense that our wounds, our fears, and our hidden grief are held in a mercy that does not diminish them but does not leave us alone with them either.
Also sought as: the concealing one bahá'í · god who covers sins bahá'í · divine mercy and concealment · al-sattar in bahá'í prayer · long healing prayer names of god · lawh-i-anta'l-kafi names · god who hides our faults · concealing attribute of god · bahá'u'lláh healing prayer divine names · name of god that covers.
Living the Word
Applying The Concealing One in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Concealing One being asked of you right now, and how will you practice it? Keep a short note each time you return, and watch your own path with this name take shape over time. It stays on this device.
In the Bahá'í Writings
“6.1The Person of the Manifestation hath ever been the representative and mouthpiece of God. He, in truth, is the Dayspring of God’s most excellent Titles, and the Dawning-Place of His exalted Attributes. If any be set up by His side as peers, if they be regarded as identical with His Person, how can it, then, be maintained that the Divine Being is one and incomparable, that His Essence is indivisible and peerless? Meditate on that which We have, through the power of truth, revealed unto thee, and be thou of them that comprehend its meaning. 7.1To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.” …”
Read in full at bahai.org →“The beloved of the Merciful must show forth such character and conduct among His creatures, that the fragrance of their holiness may be shed upon the whole world, and may quicken the dead, inasmuch as the purpose of the Manifestation of God and the dawning of the limitless lights of the Invisible is to educate the souls of men, and refine the character of every living man. …” “Truthfulness,” He asserts, “is the foundation of all human virtues. Without truthfulness progress and success, in all the worlds of God, are impossible for any soul. When this holy attribute is established in man, all the divine qualities will also be acquired.””
Read in full at bahai.org →“To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.” No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish, which is the Primal Will itself, all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being, the world of the visible.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Concealing One
- What does it mean to call God 'The Concealing One' in a healing prayer?
- It means turning to a God whose mercy extends to covering what is broken, hidden, or shameful in us, not to deny our condition, but to hold it within a compassion larger than our own capacity to cope. In the context of healing, this name acknowledges that illness and suffering often carry emotional and spiritual dimensions, not only physical ones, and that divine mercy meets us at every level.
- Is 'The Concealing One' a name found in other faith traditions too?
- Yes, the idea of God as one who veils or conceals human faults appears in Islamic devotional tradition as Al-Sattār, and echoes of the same quality appear in other monotheistic contexts as well. Bahá'u'lláh's use of this name in the Long Healing Prayer draws on that deep current of theological reflection while placing it within a Bahá'í understanding of God's unknowable yet merciful Essence. The resonance across traditions can make this name feel like a meeting point for people coming to the prayer from different backgrounds.
- Does praying with this name guarantee that my illness will be healed?
- No, and it would not be honest to suggest otherwise. The Long Healing Prayer is an act of turning toward God with trust and hope, but the outcome of any illness belongs to God's wisdom, which is beyond what we can fully see or predict. Many people find deep comfort and strength in this prayer without experiencing a physical cure, and that comfort is itself real and meaningful. Please continue working with qualified medical professionals for any health concern.
- Why is The Concealing One placed alongside names like The Almighty and The Healing in this line of the prayer?
- The clustering of names in this passage seems to offer a panoramic picture of God's character, power, help, mercy, sufficiency, healing, and constancy all appearing together. The Concealing One nestled among them suggests that mercy and shelter are not separate from healing; they are part of the same movement of grace toward a person in need. Reflecting on how these names accompany one another can itself be a meditative practice, letting each name illuminate the others.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer