No. 36 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Frequented by all
A name that reminds us no heart has ever truly been a stranger to God.
I call on Thee O Thou Frequented by all, O Thou Known to all, O Thou Hidden from all! 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 · Frequented
from “frequent”: 1. Often to be met with; happening at short intervals; often repeated or occurring; as, frequent visits. "Frequent feudal towers." Byron. 2. Addicted to any course of conduct; inclined to indulge in any practice; habitual; persistent. He has been loud and frequent in declaring himself hearty for the government. Swift. 3. Full; crowded; thronged. [Obs.] 'T is Cæsar's will to have a frequent senate. B. Jonson. 4. Often or commonly reported. [Obs.] 'T is frequent in the city he hath subdued The Catti and the Daci. Massinger. 1. To visit often; to resort to often or habitually. He frequented the court of Augustus. …
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 Frequented by all” 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.
To say that God is 'The Frequented by All' is to say something quietly astonishing: that the threshold of the Divine has never stood empty. Every human being who has ever drawn breath, in every corner of the earth and every age of history, has in some sense turned toward this Presence, through prayer, through longing, through the wordless ache of wondering whether anyone is listening. The name gathers all of that turning into a single, luminous truth about God's nature.
There is a paradox woven into this name, and the prayer itself seems to honor it directly. In the very same breath, Bahá'u'lláh invokes God as the One who is known to all and yet hidden from all. This is not a contradiction so much as a layered portrait: God is the most visited place in the universe of the human heart, and yet no one has exhausted that mystery, no one has arrived at the final room. Frequented does not mean fully fathomed. A great ocean may be sailed by countless ships without revealing all of its depths.
What this name offers, at a human level, is a kind of solidarity. When you bring your need or your grief to God, you are not wandering to some obscure address that others have overlooked. You are walking a path worn smooth by every person who has ever loved, hoped, suffered, or sought. That shared pilgrimage does not diminish your own moment of turning, it holds it in a vast and gentle company.
Calling on The Frequented by all for healing
When illness or anguish makes a person feel utterly isolated, cut off from ordinary life by pain, fear, or the particular loneliness that sickness can bring, this name of God speaks directly to that feeling of being stranded. To address God as the One frequented by all is to remember that the road to this Presence is the most traveled road there is. Whatever you are carrying into this prayer, you are not the first to carry something heavy here, and the door has not worn out from the use. It remains open, unhurried, and genuinely receptive.
Calling on this name in the context of healing might also gently shift attention from the question of whether one deserves to be heard, toward the simpler recognition that God is simply accustomed to being sought, this is, in a sense, what God is for. That does not mean outcomes are guaranteed or that prayer replaces the care of skilled physicians and mental health professionals, whose work is itself a gift to be taken seriously. It means that the act of turning, of showing up at this frequented threshold with your specific need on this specific day, is never out of place. You belong in that company of seekers, and the One you seek already knows the way to you.
Also sought as: frequented by all bahá'í prayer · long healing prayer names of god · lawh-i-anta'l-kafi names of god · god known to all hidden from all · bahá'u'lláh healing prayer divine names · frequented by all meaning bahai · god's nearness to every soul bahai · bahai prayer for healing name of god · long healing prayer companion guide · the sufficing the healing the abiding prayer.
Living the Word
Applying The Frequented by all in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Frequented by all 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
“6.2O thou seeker after the Kingdom! Every divine Manifestation is the very life of the world, and the skilled physician of each ailing soul. The world of man is sick, and that competent Physician knoweth the cure, arising as He doth with teachings, counsels and admonishments that are the remedy for every pain, the healing balm to every wound. It is certain that the wise physician can diagnose his patient’s needs at any season, and apply the cure. Wherefore, relate thou the Teachings of the Abhá Beauty to the urgent needs of this present day, and thou wilt see that they provide an instant remedy for the ailing body of the world. Indeed, they are the elixir that bringeth eternal health.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“O thou seeker after the Kingdom! Every divine Manifestation is the very life of the world, and the skilled physician of each ailing soul. The world of man is sick, and that competent Physician knoweth the cure, arising as He doth with teachings, counsels and admonishments that are the remedy for every pain, the healing balm to every wound. It is certain that the wise physician can diagnose his patient’s needs at any season, and apply the cure. Wherefore, relate thou the Teachings of the Abhá Beauty to the urgent needs of this present day, and thou wilt see that they provide an instant remedy for the ailing body of the world. Indeed, they are the elixir that bringeth eternal health.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“Thus all that is related to the loved ones of God—their former glory, their present services, the grievous sufferings they have borne—all will, even as carving on slabs of emerald, be recorded on the scrolls of the Abhá Kingdom, and therefrom will they shed their radiance upon all the worlds of God. Then when that light sheddeth its rays upon the tongues of the world of existence, it giveth rise to expressions of praise and glorification; when directed towards human hearts, it evoketh the memory of noble traits, deeds, and virtues; when reflected upon the pages of the world, it becometh the object of the verse “and give me a good name among posterity”; it illumineth the surface of the earth; it is made manifest in the form of consecrated spots and sacred Shrines.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Frequented by all
- Why does the prayer call God 'Frequented by all' and 'Hidden from all' in the same line?
- These two names sit side by side to honor the layered nature of the Divine, endlessly accessible and yet inexhaustibly mysterious. God being frequented by all points to how universally humanity has sought the sacred across every culture and time. God being hidden from all points to how that mystery is never fully resolved, no matter how sincerely one seeks. Together they suggest a Presence that is genuinely near without ever being reduced to something we can simply box up and claim to have fully understood.
- Can reciting the Long Healing Prayer cure an illness?
- The Bahá'í writings encourage both prayer and the consultation of qualified medical professionals, treating them as complementary rather than competing. Prayer is offered in a spirit of trust in God's wisdom, not as a transaction with a guaranteed result. If you or someone you love is ill, please do seek competent medical care alongside any spiritual practice. The healing this prayer tends toward is understood to encompass body, mind, and spirit, and how that unfolds in any individual life is held reverently in God's hands.
- Who can recite the Long Healing Prayer, is it only for Bahá'ís?
- There is no gate-keeping requirement described for this prayer. The name 'The Frequented by All' itself gestures toward something universal, a divine threshold that no category of person is excluded from approaching. Readers from many backgrounds have found the prayer meaningful. That said, for guidance on formal Bahá'í devotional practice, the resources of your local Bahá'í community are the right place to turn.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer