The Islamic canon is comprised of two chief sources: Qur'an and Hadith. Muslim life is governed by the manner in which these are understood and applied to the everyday. Whilst the Qur'an is the foundational corpus of the religion, it does not provide specifics on many facets of social and political activity. For this, Muslims rely on sunnah: "habitual practice", which is the body of traditional social and legal custom and practice of the Islamic community. The specialised documentation of Hadith (sayings or actions attributed to the Prophet) made this body of text a reliable and favoured method of knowing the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. In this subject students will explore the origin and development of hadith, its sources, and function in Muslim life.