Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: I said to Sayyiduna Uthman Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him): For what reason did you combine Surah Anfal and Surah Tawbah together? Even though Surah Tawbah is a surah of two hundred verses, and Surah Anfal is from the Mathani. You combined both? So Sayyiduna Uthman Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: Whenever any verse of the Qur’an was revealed, the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would call for a scribe, and then he would say to them,“Include these in the surah in which such-and-such is mentioned.”So Surah Anfal was also revealed in Madinah Munawwarah, and this surah (Tawbah) was also revealed in Madinah Munawwarah in the last period of revelation. When the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed away, he did not specify to us where we should place them, so I found that its incident resembled the incident of Surah Anfal. Therefore, I combined both of them, and we did not write the line of“ «بسم اللہ الرحمن» ”between them. I included them among the seven long surahs.