Ibn Abbas said: I said to Uthman ibn Affan, “What is your reasoning with Surah Al-Anfal, which has less than a hundred verses, and Surah Bara’ah (At-Tawba), which has more than a hundred verses, yet you put them together without writing in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful between them and you placed them with the seven long Surahs. Why did you do that?” Uthman said, “A long time might pass with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, without anything being revealed to him, and then sometimes a Surah with numerous verses might be revealed. So when something was revealed he would call for someone who could write and tell them to put these verses in the Surah which mentions this and that. When a verse was revealed, he would tell them to put this verse in the Surah which mentions this and that. Al-Anfal was among the first to be revealed in Medina, and Bara’ah was among the last of those revealed of the Quran and their discussions resemble each other, so we thought that they were part of each other. Then the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, died and it was not clear to us if they were part of each other. For this reason, we put them together without writing in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful and we included them with the seven long Surahs.”
[Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Book of Tafsir, Number 3086, Sahih]
ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعُثْمَانَ بْنِ عَفَّانَ
مَا حَمَلَكُمْ أَنْ عَمَدْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَنْفَالِ وَهِيَ مِنْ
الْمَثَانِي وَإِلَى بَرَاءَةٌ وَهِيَ مِنْ الْمِئِينَ فَقَرَنْتُمْ
بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ تَكْتُبُوا بَيْنَهُمَا سَطْرَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ
الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَوَضَعْتُمُوهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطُّوَلِ مَا
حَمَلَكُمْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ فَقَالَ عُثْمَانُ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى
اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مِمَّا يَأْتِي عَلَيْهِ الزَّمَانُ وَهُوَ
تَنْزِلُ عَلَيْهِ السُّوَرُ ذَوَاتُ الْعَدَدِ فَكَانَ إِذَا نَزَلَ
عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءُ دَعَا بَعْضَ مَنْ كَانَ يَكْتُبُ فَيَقُولُ ضَعُوا
هَؤُلَاءِ الْآيَاتِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا
وَإِذَا نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْآيَةَ فَيَقُولُ ضَعُوا هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ فِي
السُّورَةِ الَّتِي يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا وَكَانَتْ الْأَنْفَالُ
مِنْ أَوَائِلِ مَا أُنْزِلَتْ بِالْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَتْ بَرَاءَةٌ مِنْ
آخِرِ الْقُرْآنِ وَكَانَتْ قِصَّتُهَا شَبِيهَةً بِقِصَّتِهَا فَظَنَنْتُ
أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَقُبِضَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ وَلَمْ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَمِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ
قَرَنْتُ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ أَكْتُبْ بَيْنَهُمَا سَطْرَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ
الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ فَوَضَعْتُهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطُّوَلِ
قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ
سنن الترمذي كتاب تفسير القرآن باب ومن سورة التوبة
