No. 76 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Shelter to all
In a world of uncertainty and exposure, this name invites us to rest in the one shelter that nothing can dismantle.
I call on Thee O Haven for all, O Shelter to all, O All-Preserving 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 · Shelter
1. That which covers or defends from injury or annoyance; a protection; a screen. The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. Pope. 2. One who protects; a guardian; a defender. Thou [God] hast been a shelter for me. Ps. lxi. 3. 3. The state of being covered and protected; protection; security. Who into shelter takes their tender bloom. Young. Shelter tent,a small tent made of pieces of cotton duck arranged to button together. In field service the soldiers carry the pieces. 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 Shelter to 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 call God 'The Shelter to all' is to recognize something quietly radical: that every living being, without exception, stands under the same canopy of divine protection. A shelter, by its nature, does not turn anyone away from the door. It does not ask whether you deserve to come in out of the storm. It simply receives. When Baháʼuʼlláh chooses this name in the midst of a healing prayer, He is pointing to a quality of God that is both universal and intensely personal, vast enough to encompass all of creation, yet intimate enough to cover each individual soul.
The word 'shelter' carries a beautiful range of meaning. It speaks of physical refuge, a roof when rain falls, but also of the kind of protection that eases fear, that makes a frightened mind feel less alone. Spiritually, it suggests that no matter how exposed a person may feel, through illness, grief, estrangement, or simply the relentless pressure of being alive, there is a reality that stands between them and utter desolation. That reality is not an abstraction. In this prayer it is addressed directly, intimately, as 'Thou.' The Shelter is not a concept; it is a Presence.
It is also worth sitting with the word 'all.' Not shelter to the worthy, not shelter to those who pray correctly or live perfectly, but shelter to all. This universality is part of what makes the name so steadying. Whatever condition you arrive in, broken, doubting, exhausted, barely able to form a coherent thought, the shelter does not require you to be otherwise before you may enter.
Calling on The Shelter to all for healing
When illness or suffering strips away the ordinary structures we rely on, routine, independence, the sense that the future is predictable, what remains can feel terrifyingly open. It is precisely in that exposed place that calling on God as 'The Shelter to all' can become something more than a recitation. It can become a genuine act of turning: turning toward the One who, by this very name, has declared Himself to be the refuge for everyone who has nowhere else to turn. You do not need to feel strong to do this, nor do you need certainty that healing will follow. The prayer is an act of trust, not a transaction.
Many people find that repeating this name slowly, letting it settle rather than rushing past it, opens a small, quiet space inside the anxiety of being unwell. That space is not a cure, and nothing here should be taken as a substitute for the care of qualified physicians and other health professionals; seeking competent medical help is itself an act of wisdom and responsibility. But alongside that care, and within whatever limits any situation carries, there is room to rest in the idea that you are not finally unprotected. The Shelter holds what our own efforts cannot always hold. To call on it is simply to acknowledge that, and to let that acknowledgment do its quiet work.
Also sought as: shelter to all bahai healing prayer · haven for all long healing prayer · god as refuge bahai prayer · lawh-i-anta'l-kafi names of god · bahai prayer for protection and healing · divine shelter bahai writings · names of god in long healing prayer · bahai healing prayer refuge · all-preserving one bahai prayer · bahá'u'lláh prayer for shelter.
Living the Word
Applying The Shelter to all in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Shelter to 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
“11.1That Assembly resteth in the sheltering shade of the Lord of all bounties, and it is my hope that, as beseemeth that body, it will be favoured and invigorated by the breathings of the Holy Spirit, and that day by day ye will love God in ever greater measure, and become more tightly bound to the Beauty that abideth forever, to Him Who is the Light of the world. For love of God and spiritual attraction do cleanse and purify the human heart and dress and adorn it with the spotless garment of holiness; and once the heart is entirely attached to the Lord, and bound over to the Blessed Perfection, then will the grace of God be revealed. 11.2This love is not of the body but completely of the soul. And those souls whose inner being is lit by the love of God are even as spreading rays of light, and they shine out like stars of holiness in a pure and crystalline sky. For true love, real love, is the love for God, and this is sanctified beyond the notions and imaginings of men.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“24. 1We betook Ourselves to the wilderness, and there, separated and alone, led for two years a life of complete solitude. From Our eyes there rained tears of anguish, and in Our bleeding heart there surged an ocean of agonizing pain. Many a night We had no food for sustenance, and many a day Our body found no rest. By Him Who hath My being between His hands! notwithstanding these showers of afflictions and unceasing calamities, Our soul was wrapt in blissful joy, and Our whole being evinced an ineffable gladness. For in Our solitude We were unaware of the harm or benefit, the health or ailment, of any soul. Alone, We communed with Our spirit, oblivious of the world and all that is therein. We knew not, however, that the mesh of divine destiny exceedeth the vastest of mortal conceptions, and the dart of His decree transcendeth the boldest of human designs. None can escape the snares He setteth, and no soul can find release except through submission to His will. By the righteousness of God! Our withdrawal contemplated no return, and Our separation hoped for no reunion.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“‘Say, all is from God’ is a sound and sufficient argument, and ‘if God toucheth thee with a hurt there is no dispeller thereof save Him’ is a healing medicine.””
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Shelter to all
- What does it mean to call God 'The Shelter to all' in the context of a healing prayer?
- It places healing within a broader reality of divine care and protection that encompasses every soul, not just those who are healthy or whole. Rather than treating healing as something we must earn or demand, this name invites us to approach God as a genuine refuge, to bring our vulnerability to the One who is already, by nature, a shelter for all. It shifts the posture of prayer from negotiation toward trust.
- Can reciting this name or this prayer cure illness?
- The Baháʼí writings speak of prayer and spiritual devotion as deeply meaningful dimensions of human life, and this prayer is held in reverence by many who seek healing. However, no specific outcome can be promised or guaranteed through any prayer, and Baháʼí guidance consistently affirms the importance of consulting skilled physicians for medical conditions. Prayer and medicine are not opposites; they can be pursued together, with humility about what each can and cannot do.
- Why is this name placed alongside 'The Haven for all' and 'The All-Preserving One' in the same line?
- The clustering of these three names creates a kind of layered image of divine protection: a haven suggests a place of safety reached after difficulty, a shelter speaks to covering and refuge, and 'All-Preserving' points to an active, ongoing watchfulness. Together they paint a picture of God's care as something encompassing, not a single act but a continuous, many-sided reality. Reflecting on them side by side can deepen what each one individually evokes.
- Is this prayer only for physical healing, or can it be used during emotional or spiritual difficulty?
- The prayer is addressed to a God described, in its very lines, as haven, shelter, sufficing, healing, and abiding, language that speaks to the whole person, not only the body. Many people turn to it during grief, spiritual crisis, mental exhaustion, or periods of deep uncertainty, finding that its invocations address dimensions of their experience that go well beyond the physical. It is, at heart, a prayer of total trust, which makes it relevant to any form of human need.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer