شَفِيقٌ

is synonym with ↓ مُشْفِقٌ as particle n. of 4 [signifying Fearing, or fearful, or cautious; and also affectionate, kind, or compassionate, &c.]; (S, O, Msb, * K;) as also ↓ شَفِقٌ (Msb) [and in an intensive sense ↓ شَفُوقٌ; and , from what follows, it appears that شَفِيقٌ also is used as an intensive epithet]: or ↓ شَفِقٌ signifies fearing; and its plural is شَفِقُونَ: (M, TA:) and شَفِيقٌ, one giving faithful or sincere or honest advice, eager, or striving, to rectify, or amend, the state of him to whom that advice is given. (M.)

إِنَّ الشَّفِيقَ بِسُوْءِ ظَنٍ مُولَعٌ

[Verily the affectionate, &c., or the very affectionate &c., is addicted to evil opinion,] is a prov., applied in the case of the man who fears, for his friend, the accidents of fortune, by reason of his excessive شَفَقَة [or affection, &c.]. (TA.) And it is said in the Qur'an, 21:50, وَهُمْ مِنَ ↓ السَّاعَةِ مُشْفِقُونَ [meaning And who are fearful of the time of the resurrection]; the signification of fear being most apparent when مُشْفِقٌ is thus transitive by means of مِنْ. (TA.) See also an instance of ↓ مُشْفِقٌ [in a similar sense] in the first paragraph of this article