The Meaning of “Village” (qarya) in the Verse

The word “village” (qarya) appears multiple times in the Qur’an, and according to some accounts, it refers to specific locations in each instance: In the verse “And when We said, ‘Enter this village’”(307), it refers to “Ariha” in Jordan(308), and in the verse “Or like the one who passed by a village,” it refers to “Dayr Hiraql”(309) which was located on the bank of the Tigris(310), and in the verse “And when it was said to them, ‘Dwell in this village’”(311), it refers to “Ayla”(312), which is a city on the Red Sea coast near the Gulf of Aqaba(313), and in the verse “Then why was there not a village that believed”(314), it refers to Nineveh, the city of the people of Jonah(315), and in the verse under discussion and the verse “And present to them an example of the companions of the village”(316), it refers to Antioch or “Bājrawān”(317)—which is one of the ancient cities of present-day Syria(318), and according to a tradition that will be discussed in the narrative section, it refers to Nazareth, the birthplace of Jesus (a.s.) in northern Palestine.