ʿArīf , a term that refers to certain military or civil officials, was used during the Umayyad period to designate a paymaster in the army (corresponding to the Byzantine optio), but seemingly also a collector of ṣadaqa from Arabian tribesmen (al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī, Cairo 1927-, 11:248f.; cf. 3:62). At other times the term has designated variously a commander of a small military unit, a leader of the inquisition against zindīq s, an overseer of a particular section of the market (Wakīʿ, Akhbār al-quḍāʾ , ed. ʿAbdallāh al-Marāghī,