Abu Dawud

Narrated Uthman ibn Affan:: Yazid al-Farisi said: I heard Ibn Abbas say: I asked Uthman ibn Affan: What moved you to put the (Surah) al-Baraah which belongs to the mi'in (surahs) (containing one hundred verses) and the (Surah) al-Anfal which belongs to the mathani (Surahs) in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the first long surah or chapters of the Quran), and you did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them? Uthman replied: When the verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet ﷺ, he called someone to write them down for him and said to him: Put this verse in the surah in which such and such has been mentioned; and when one or two verses were revealed, he used to say similarly (regarding them). (Surah) al-Anfal is the first surah that was revealed at Madina, and (Surah) al-Baraah was revealed last in the Quran, and its contents were similar to those of al-Anfal. I, therefore, thought that it was a part of al-Anfal. Hence I put them in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the seven lengthy surahs), and I did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them.

The above mentioned tradition has been reported by ibn abbas through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ died, but he did not mention to us that surah al baraah ins a part of al-anfal. Abu Dawood said: Al-sha’bl, Abu Malik, Qatadah, and Thabit bin Umarah said: The prophet ﷺ did not write”In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful” until Surah al-naml was revealed. This is the meaning of what they said. Further, this is a mursal traditional (omitting the name of the companion)

Ibn Abbas said: The prophet ﷺ did not distinguish between the two surahs until the words “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the merciful” was revealed to him. These are the words of Ibn al-sarh.