“village” encompasses both the dwellings and their inhabitants. You say, “He dug the river,” meaning its channel, and “The river flowed,” meaning its water. You say, “The rainspout flowed,” meaning the water, and “He installed the rainspout,” meaning the wood. Allah Most High says:

“Allah sets forth the example of a village that was safe and secure, its provision coming to it abundantly from every place. Yet it denied Allah’s blessings, so Allah made it taste the garment of hunger.”

What is meant is the inhabitants within that place. He Most High says:

“How many a village We destroyed! Our punishment came upon it by night or while they were resting at midday.”

He Most High says:

“Ask the village in which we were and the caravan with which we returned.”

He Most High says:

“And those villages—We destroyed them when they did wrong.”

He Most High says:

“Such is your Lord’s seizure when He seizes the villages while they are doing wrong.”

He Most High says:

“So that you may warn the Mother of Villages and those around it.”

He Most High says:

“How many a village We destroyed while it was doing wrong, leaving it fallen in upon its roofs; and how many an abandoned well and lofty palace!”

It is the place, not its inhabitants, that has fallen in upon its roofs. He Most High says:

“Or like the one who passed by a village that had fallen in upon its roofs.”

Since a village’s inhabitants are the focus of interest, it is more often they who are meant in the Book of Allah. Likewise, since water is the focus of interest in a river, it is more often what is meant, as in His saying:

“And We made rivers flow beneath them,”

and His saying:

“And We caused a river to flow between them.”

This usage is common—more common than saying, “We dug the river.” Likewise, the word “Quran” is applied more often to the speech itself than to the act of speaking. The same applies to the terms “speech,” “saying,” and “accounts,” and all other forms of