Reason Surah Taubah Does Not Start with Bismillah

The Blessed Prophet ﷺ had a habit that whenever a verse was revealed, he would call the scribes (companions who wrote down the revelation) and tell them which verse should go in which Surah and in which place, and they would write it accordingly.

However, regarding the verses known as Surah Taubah, the Prophet ﷺ did not give any instruction about which place or Surah they should be written in. Therefore, it is understood that this might be a separate Surah.

On the other hand, there is a connection between the last verses of Surah Anfal and the first verses of Surah Taubah. Because of this connection, Surah Taubah was placed after Surah Anfal.

Normally, when a Surah is separate from the previous one, Bismillah (“In the name of Allah”) is written at the start to show that it is a new Surah. But Bismillah was not written at the start of Surah Taubah, so that it could be understood that it is related to the previous Surah.

Since it was not clearly obvious whether Surah Taubah was completely separate or part of Surah Anfal, the companions, when Usman رضي الله عنه compiled the Qur’an, left no Bismillah at the beginning but marked it as a separate Surah, so that it would not be considered the same as Surah Anfal.