Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: The arrangement of the sūrahs was an act of ijtihād by the Muslims when they compiled the muṣḥaf; it was not fixed by the Prophet ﷺ himself. This is likewise the view of Imām Mālik and the great majority of scholars, and it is the sounder of the two opinions.

As for the order of the āyāt, there is no disagreement that the placement of every verse within its sūrah is divinely ordained exactly as it appears in the muṣḥaf today, and that is how the community received it from its Prophet ﷺ. End of Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ’s words—may Allah have mercy on him.