An Unnamed Questioner (Asked Uthman ibn Affan about the Order of Surat al-Tawba)

This unnamed man asked Uthman ibn Affan RA, who had compiled the standard copy of the Qur'an, "O Amir al-Mu'minin, why did you put Surat al-Tawba after Surat al-Anfal?" According to a hadith in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Uthman explained that al-Tawba was one of the last surahs revealed and it had not been clear where it belonged. They placed it after al-Anfal because the two share the same subject, warfare, and did not write the Basmala between them because they were unsure whether the two formed one surah. This is why al-Tawba alone has no Basmala, and why a few early authorities counted al-Anfal and al-Tawba as a single surah, though the ummah came to agree they are two.