Ibn ‘Abbas ؓ said to us. I said to ‘Uthman bin ʿAffan: What made you take al-Anfal, which is one of al-Mathani (the seven long soorahs), and Baraʿah, which is one of al-Miʿeen (soorahs with one hundred verses or thereabouts), and put them next to one another and not write - Ibn Jaʿfar said: A line between them saying Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem - and you put them 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: “Put 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 mentioned”; 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.” 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 stories and content of the two soorahs were 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. Ibn Jaʿfar said: I put it with the seven long ones. (Using translation from Aḥmad 399)   

أَنْ عَمَدْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَنْفَالِ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمَثَانِي وَإِلَى بَرَاءَةَ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمِئِينَ فَقَرَنْتُمْ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ تَكْتُبُوا سَطْرَ بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَوَضَعْتُمُوهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطِّوَالِ فَمَا حَمَلَكُمْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ؟ قَالَ عُثْمَانُ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ ﷺ كَانَ إِذَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءُ يَدْعُو بَعْضَ مَنْ يَكْتُبُ عِنْدَهُ فَيَقُولُ «ضَعُوا هَذِهِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا وَتُنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِ الْآيَاتُ» فَيَقُولُ «ضَعُوا هَذِهِ الْآيَاتِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا وَكَانَتِ الْأَنْفَالُ مِنْ أَوَائِلِ مَا أُنْزِلَ وَبَرَاءَةٌ مِنْ آخِرِ الْقُرْآنِ وَكَانَتْ قِصَّتُهَا شَبِيهًا بِقِصَّتِهَا وَقُبِضَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ وَلَمْ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَمِنْ ثَمَّ قَرَنْتُ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ أَكْتُبْ بَيْنَهُمَا بِسَطْرِ بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ»