No. 99 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Friend
In the heart of the Long Healing Prayer, Bahá'u'lláh calls upon God not as a distant power but as The Friend, the most intimate of companions at the threshold of our need.
I call on Thee O Friend, O Physician, O Captivating 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 · Friend
1. One who entertains for another suo Want gives to know the flatterer from the friend. Dryden. A friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Prov. xviii. 24. 2. One not inimical or hostile; one not a foe or enemy; also, one of the same nation, party, kin, etc., whose friendly feelings may be assumed. The word is some times used as a term of friendly address. Friend, how camest thou in hither Matt. xxii. 12. 3. One who looks propitiously on a cause, an institution, a project, and the like; a favorer; a promoter; as, a friend to commerce, to poetry, to an institution. 4. …
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 Friend” 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.
The word 'friend' is one of the most human words in any language. We use it for the person who shows up when we are sick, who listens without rushing to fix us, who stays when staying is costly. To address God by this name is to insist that the divine relationship is not merely one of command and obedience, but of genuine closeness, a closeness chosen, sustained, and offered freely from God's side to ours. The name The Friend does not diminish the majesty of God; it locates that majesty within reach.
Across religious traditions, the idea of God as a companion or intimate has always coexisted with the idea of God as sovereign. In the Bahá'í writings, this tension resolves beautifully: the one who holds all creation in being is also the one who knows each soul by name. To call God 'The Friend' in prayer is to step out of formality and into something more honest, a conversation with one who already knows what we are carrying and has not turned away.
There is also a communal resonance to this name. The word 'friends' appears throughout the Bahá'í writings as a tender collective term for those who walk this path together. When we address God as The Friend in the Long Healing Prayer, we are, in a small way, echoing that whole community of souls who have brought their sorrows and hopes to the same door, and found it open.
Calling on The Friend for healing
When illness or grief strips away our composure, what we often need first is not a solution but a presence. Calling on God as The Friend in the Long Healing Prayer is an act of reaching toward exactly that, a presence that does not require us to be well, articulate, or strong. You might find that this name in particular invites you simply to be honest in prayer: to say what hurts, what frightens you, what you cannot yet put into orderly words. A friend can hold all of that. The prayer does not ask you to perform confidence you do not feel.
At the same time, placing our healing in the hands of The Friend means trusting a wisdom we cannot fully see. The Bahá'í teachings are clear that healing, whether of body, mind, or spirit, unfolds according to a deeper knowledge of what each soul truly needs. This is not a cold resignation; it is the particular relief of trusting someone who knows us better than we know ourselves. Alongside prayer, seeking the care of qualified physicians and mental health professionals is itself an expression of that trust, using the means God has placed in the world. The Friend, in this sense, works through many hands.
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Living the Word
Applying The Friend in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Friend 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
“31.1Wherefore must the friends of God, with utter sanctity, with one accord, rise up in the spirit, in unity with one another, to such a degree that they will become even as one being and one soul. On such a plane as this, physical bodies play no part, rather doth the spirit take over and rule; and when its power encompasseth all, then is spiritual union achieved. Strive ye by day and night to cultivate your unity to the fullest degree. Let your thoughts dwell on your own spiritual development, and close your eyes to the deficiencies of other souls. Act ye in such wise, showing forth pure and goodly deeds, and modesty and humility, that ye will cause others to be awakened. Creating Unity Among Humanity 32.1O ye friends of God! True friends are even as skilled physicians, and the Teachings of God are as healing balm, a medicine for the conscience of man. They clear the head, so that a man can breathe them in and delight in their sweet fragrance. They waken those who sleep. They bring awareness to the unheeding, and a portion to the outcast, and to the hopeless, hope.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“15.3O handmaid of God! The prayers which were revealed to ask for healing apply both to physical and spiritual healing. Recite them, then, to heal both the soul and the body. If healing is right for the patient, it will certainly be granted; but for some ailing persons, healing would only be the cause of other ills, and therefore wisdom doth not permit an affirmative answer to the prayer. 15.4O handmaid of God! The power of the Holy Spirit healeth both physical and spiritual ailments. Acquiring Divine Virtues”
Read in full at bahai.org →“13.1It is at such times that the friends of God avail themselves of the occasion, seize the opportunity, rush forth and win the prize. If their task is to be confined to good conduct and advice, nothing will be accomplished. They must speak out, expound the proofs, set forth clear arguments, draw irrefutable conclusions establishing the truth of the manifestation of the Sun of Reality. 14.1The friends of God should weave bonds of fellowship with others and show absolute love and affection towards them. These links have a deep influence on people and they will listen. When the friends sense receptivity to the Word of God, they should deliver the Message with wisdom. They must first try and remove any apprehensions in the people they teach. In fact, every one of the believers should choose one person every year and try to establish ties of friendship with him, so that all his fear would disappear. Only then, and gradually, must he teach that person. This is the best method.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Friend
- Why does the Long Healing Prayer address God as 'The Friend' alongside titles like 'The Physician'?
- The pairing is deeply intentional. A physician brings knowledge and skill; a friend brings presence and trust. Placing both names in the same breath of the prayer suggests that true healing involves both, expertise and intimacy, care and closeness. It reflects a vision of God as one who is not remote from our suffering but genuinely near to it.
- Can reciting this name in the prayer actually help with physical illness?
- The Bahá'í writings teach that these healing prayers address both physical and spiritual dimensions, and that healing is granted according to divine wisdom rather than as an automatic outcome. Reciting the Long Healing Prayer, including this invocation of The Friend, is a meaningful spiritual practice, but it is not a substitute for medical care. Please consult qualified healthcare professionals for physical or mental health concerns.
- Is 'The Friend' a common name for God in other religious traditions as well?
- Yes, the idea appears in various forms across traditions, in Sufi Islam, for instance, the divine is sometimes addressed in strikingly intimate terms, and the Hebrew scriptures speak of figures like Abraham as a 'friend of God.' The Bahá'í use of this name stands in a long lineage of human beings reaching toward the divine not only in awe but in genuine relationship. It is a name that feels ancient and immediate at the same time.
- How should I approach this name if I am struggling to feel any closeness to God?
- That struggle itself is a honest starting place for prayer. Many people find that naming God as The Friend, even when that friendship feels distant or hard to sense, is an act of hope rather than certainty. You are not required to feel the closeness in order to call toward it. Reflection on this name might gently open a space where that closeness can, over time, become more real to you.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer