No. 10 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Upraiser
When we feel pressed down by illness, grief, or despair, the name The Upraiser turns our face toward the One who has the power to raise us.
I call on Thee O Sovereign, O Upraiser, O Judge! 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 · Upraiser
from “upraise”: To raise; to lift up.
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 Upraiser” 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 uprise is to raise something, or someone, from a lower state to a higher one. When Bahá'u'lláh addresses God as The Upraiser, He evokes a Being whose nature it is to lift: to lift the fallen, to elevate the humble, to draw what has sunk back toward the light. There is no image of a distant, indifferent force here. The Upraiser is active, relational, and oriented toward the one in need of being raised.
The name carries weight in every direction a person might experience being brought low. Physically, illness presses the body down. Emotionally, sorrow and shame can feel like gravity pulling inward. Spiritually, a sense of remoteness from God is its own kind of collapse. The Upraiser speaks to all of these states without distinguishing between them, as if God's raising power is not limited to one dimension of the human person but reaches through all of them at once.
There is also something quietly communal in this name. Throughout history, communities of faith have gathered around those who have fallen, in suffering, in failure, in grief, with the shared conviction that no one is left where they lie. Calling God The Upraiser is an act of confidence that this conviction has its source somewhere beyond human goodwill: that the universe itself is inclined toward restoration.
Calling on The Upraiser for healing
When you come to this name in the Long Healing Prayer, you might find it helpful to sit for a moment with whatever has brought you low, a diagnosis, a loss, a weariness that has settled into your bones, a sense that something in you has simply given way. The Upraiser is not a name that demands you arrive on your feet. It is precisely a name for those who are not, right now, on their feet. Calling on it is an act of trust that your condition, however diminished it feels, is seen, and that the One you are addressing has a history of raising what the world had counted as finished.
Healing, in the Bahá'í understanding, belongs to God's wisdom rather than to our timetable, and the prayer itself is held in that spirit. Reciting it is not a transaction but a turning, an orientation of the whole self toward a Source whose care is not in doubt even when outcomes are uncertain. If you or someone you love is facing illness, please also seek the support of qualified medical professionals; spiritual practice and good medicine are companions, not rivals. But alongside that care, the name The Upraiser offers something that medicine alone cannot: the assurance that you are held, even in the falling, by One whose nature is to raise.
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Living the Word
Applying The Upraiser in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Upraiser 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
“The enhancement of the devotional character of a community also has an effect on the Nineteen Day Feast and can be felt at other times when the friends come together. (The Universal House of Justice, from a letter dated 29 December 2015 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors) [76] Further Considerations Prayers and Healing During thy supplications to God and thy reciting, “Thy Name is my healing,” consider how thine heart is cheered, thy soul delighted by the spirit of the love of God, and thy mind attracted to the Kingdom of God! By these attractions one’s ability and capacity increase. When the vessel is enlarged the water increases, and when the thirst grows the bounty of the cloud becomes agreeable to the taste of man. This is the mystery of supplication and the wisdom of stating one’s wants. (Report of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words as quoted in J. E. Esslemont, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, p. 93) [77] O handmaid of God! Prayers are granted through the universal Manifestations of God. Nevertheless, where the wish is to obtain material things, even where the heedless are concerned, if they supplicate, humbly imploring God’s help—even their prayer hath an effect.”
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 →“The guarantee that the outcome will ultimately be sound—spiritually, morally and socially—lies in the abiding faith of the unconsulted masses of the earth’s inhabitants that the universe is ruled not by human caprice, but by a loving and unfailing Providence. Together with the crumbling of barriers separating peoples, our age is witnessing the dissolution of the once insuperable wall that the past assumed would forever separate the life of Heaven from the life of Earth. The scriptures of all religions have always taught the believer to see in service to others not only a moral duty, but an avenue for the soul’s own approach to God. Today, the progressive restructuring of society gives this familiar teaching new dimensions of meaning. As the age-old promise of a world animated by principles of justice slowly takes on the character of a realistic goal, meeting the needs of the soul and those of society will increasingly be seen as reciprocal aspects of a mature spiritual life.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Upraiser
- What does it mean to call God 'The Upraiser' in a healing prayer?
- It means approaching God not only as a healer in the clinical sense but as a power that actively reverses states of being brought low, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. The name situates healing within the broader idea of restoration and elevation, suggesting that God's care moves toward the one who has fallen rather than waiting for them to recover on their own.
- Does using The Upraiser's name in the Long Healing Prayer guarantee recovery from illness?
- No, and the Bahá'í Writings themselves are clear on this point: healing is given in accordance with divine wisdom, and what benefits one person may not be what another needs in the same circumstances. The prayer is an act of turning toward God in trust, not a formula for a guaranteed outcome. Anyone dealing with illness is encouraged to work with competent physicians alongside their spiritual practice.
- Can The Upraiser speak to emotional or spiritual suffering, not just physical illness?
- Many who reflect on this prayer find that its names of God speak to the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, rather than to physical ailments alone. The Upraiser in particular seems to address any state of being pressed down or diminished, which can include grief, despair, shame, or a felt distance from God. The prayer can be a companion in all of these experiences.
- Is there a specific way to meditate on the name The Upraiser while reciting the prayer?
- There is no prescribed method, and Bahá'í devotional life generally emphasizes sincerity and attention over technique. Some people find it meaningful to pause on a name, hold it quietly, and let its sense settle before continuing. Others simply let the rhythm of the prayer carry them. What matters most is that the heart is genuinely turned toward God.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer