The first station (maqām) of fear (khawf) is taqwa (God-consciousness). In this station, those who are God-fearing (muttaqī), righteous (ṣāliḥ), and active in good deeds (ʿāmil) are found. The second station of khawf is ḥadhar (cautious avoidance). In this station are the ascetics (zāhid), those possessing waraʿ (scrupulousness), and those possessing khushūʿ (humble reverence). The third station is khashyah. In this station are the scholars (ʿālim), the devout worshippers (ʿābid), and the muḥsinūn (those who excel in ihsan [spiritual excellence]). The fourth station is wajal. This is the station of those who engage in dhikr (remembrance of God), the humble (mukhbitūn, those who are devoted to Allah from the heart), and the ʿārifūn (those endowed with maʿrifa [gnosis, experiential knowledge of God]). The fifth station is ishfāq (abstaining from evil out of reverence for the Lord). This is the station of the ṣiddīqūn (the utterly truthful), the martyrs (shuhadāʾ), the muḥibbūn (the lovers [of God]), and those from the class of the muqarrabūn (those who are brought near to Allah) who are of a special kind. Their fear does not arise from seeing what is attained out of concern for punishment, but from knowing the attributes due to the One who possesses the attribute. (Kūt, I, 241)
Everything pleasant or unpleasant that you encounter is either something presently existing, something that happened in the past, or something that will occur or is expected in the future... When the expected thing occurs as something that brings pain and distress to the heart, this is called khawf and ishfāq... (Iḥyāʾ, IV, 174)
Ishfāq (compassion) is the continuity of a ḥadhar (cautious avoidance) that is close to the feeling of mercy. The first subtlety of ishfāq is to have ishfāq for the nafs (the lower self) due to its stubbornness, for one's deeds out of fear that they may be wasted, and for created beings due to their excuses. The second subtlety is to distance oneself from people.