This is a seminar on the hadith literature broadly defined, as well as its methodological challenges and potentials for the study of Islamic history. Debates on the status of traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and other early authority figures played a formative role in classical Islamic thought, and have been no less significant if contentious in the modern academic study of Islam. This course explores the history of hadith as a discourse, its different forms and genres, its compilation and changing norms of transmission in the medieval period, and its various functions in law, ethics, theology, society, and culture. Readings in primary sources will include both canonical and apocryphal texts, representing the major and minor Muslim traditions. Through selected case studies on themes of interest, students will develop a command of the technical concepts and terminology in hadith studies, be able to review current debates in the field, and gain a critical understanding of the role of tradition in Islamic intellectual and social history.