Arabic (Original)

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) حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرٍ أَحْمَدُ بْنُ كَامِلٍ الْقَاضِي ثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ الْعَوْفِيُّ ثنا رَوْحُ بْنُ عُبَادَةَ ثنا عَوْفُ بْنُ أَبِي جَمِيلَةَ عَنْ يَزِيدَ الْفَارِسِيِّ قَالَ ثنا ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعُثْمَانَ بْنِ عَفَّانَ مَا حَمَلَكُمْ عَلَى أَنْ عَمَدْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَنْفَالِ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمَثَانِي وَإِلَى بَرَاءَةَ وَهِيَ مِنَ الْمِئِينَ فَقَرَنْتُمْ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَمْ تَكْتُبُوا بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَوَضَعْتُمُوهَا فِي السَّبْعِ الطِّوَالِ فَمَا حَمَلَكُمْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ؟ فَقَالَ عُثْمَانُ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ مِمَّا يَأْتِي عَلَيْهِ الزَّمَانُ وَهُوَ يَنْزِلُ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ السُّوَرِ ذَوَاتِ الْعَدَدِ قَالَ وَكَانَ إِذَا نَزَلَ عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءُ دَعَا بَعْضَ مَنْ يَكْتُبُ لَهُ فَيَقُولُ «ضَعُوا هَذِهِ فِي السُّورَةِ الَّتِي فِيهَا كَذَا وَكَذَا» وَكَانَتِ الْأَنْفَالُ مِنْ أَوَائِلِ مَا نَزَلَتْ بِالْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَتْ بَرَاءَةُ مِنْ آخِرِ الْقُرْآنِ وَكَانَتْ قِصَّتُهَا شَبِيهَةً بِقِصَّتِهَا فَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَقُبِضَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَلَمْ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا فَلَمْ أَكْتُبْ بَيْنَهُمَا سَطْرَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ