Musnad Ahmad 499

Translation

✧ I said to Uthman: What prompted you to turn to al-Anfal, which is among the mathani, and to Bara'ah, which is among the mi'in, and join them together without writing between them the line "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim," and you placed them in the seven long surahs? What prompted you to that? He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to have periods of time pass while surahs of numerous verses were being sent down to him. When something was sent down to him, he would call one of those who wrote for him and say: Put this in the surah in which such-and-such is mentioned. And when verses were sent down to him, he would say: Put these verses in the surah in which such-and-such is mentioned. And when a single verse was sent down to him, he would say: Put this verse in the surah in which such-and-such is mentioned. He said: Al-Anfal was among the first of what was sent down in Madinah, and Bara'ah was among the last of what was sent down of the Qur'an. He said: Its story was similar to its story, so we thought it was from it. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was taken, and he had not made clear to us that it was from it. For that reason, I joined between them and did not write between them the line "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim," and I placed them in the seven long surahs.

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