What made you take al-Anfal, which is one of the Mathani and Baraʿah, which is one of al-mi’een, and put them next to one another and not write - Ibn Jaʿfar said: A line between them saying Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem - and put it with the seven long ones? What made you do that? ʿUthman ؓ said. Sometimes many soorahs would be revealed (incomplete) to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ , and when something was revealed he would call one of the scribes to write it down for him and say: ʿPut this in the soorah in which such and such is mentionedʿ; and verses would be revealed to him and he would say, ʿPut these verses in the soorah in which such and such is mentionedʿ; and a verse would be revealed to him and he would say: ʿPut this verse in the soorah in which such and such is mentioned.ʿ Al-Anfal was one of the first soorahs to be revealed in Madinah and Baraʿah was one of the last soorahs of the Qurʿan, and the content of the two soorahs was similar. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away without having stated clearly to us that it was part of it, but we thought that it was, hence I put them together and I did not put between them the line Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem, and I put it with the seven long ones.
أَنْ عَمَدْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَنْفَالِ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمَثَانِي وَإِلَى بَرَاءَةٌ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمِئِينَ فَقَرَنْتُمْ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ تَكْتُبُوا بَيْنَهُمَا سَطْرَ بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ فَوَضَعْتُمُوهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطُّوَلِ فَمَا حَمَلَكُمْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ؟قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ مِمَّا يَأْتِي عَلَيْهِ الزَّمَانُ وَهُوَ يُنْزَلُ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ السُّوَرِ ذَوَاتِ الْعَدَدِ فَكَانَ إِذَا نْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءُ دَعَا بَعْضَ مَنْ يَكْتُبُ لَهُ فَيَقُولُ ضَعُوا هَذِهِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا وَإِذَا أُنْزِلَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْآيَاتُ قَالَ ضَعُوا هَذِهِ الْآيَاتِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَاوَكَذَا وَإِذَا أُنْزِلَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْآيَةُ قَالَ ضَعُوا هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا قَالَ وَكَانَتِ الْأَنْفَالُ مِنْ أَوَائِلِ مَا نَزَلَ بِالْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَتْ بَرَاءَةُ مِنْ آخِرِ مَا أُنْزِلَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ قَالَ فَكَانَتْ قِصَّتُهَا شَبِيهًا بِقِصَّتِهَا فَظَنَنَّا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا وَقُبِضَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ وَلَمْ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَمِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ قَرَنْتُ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ أَكْتُبْ بَيْنَهُمَا سَطْرًا بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَوَضَعْتُهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطُّوَلِ