(arranged alphabetically; all texts are available in either the ZITh library, online or via university access)

• Brown, Daniel W. (1996): Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  → well-founded overview of approaches, questions and discourses concerning the Hadith in modern Islam: a basic work
   
• Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2009): Hadith. Muhammad's legacy in the medieval and modern world. Oxford: Oneworld.
  → comprehensive historical, methodological and thematic presentation of the Hadith Tradition, with inclusion of the state of research and presentation of academic approaches as well as intra-Muslim debates: currently the best introduction to the subject, provides the most informative and insightful overview: essential!
   
• Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2014), Misquoting Muhammad. The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy, Oxford, Oneworld.
  → readable and perceptive account of the "canonical culture" that underlies the Hadith Tradition and the challanges it faces in modernity: important reading to frame contemporary discourses and debates about the Hadith.
   
• Fück, Johann (1939): „Die Rolle des Traditionalismus im Islam“. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 93 (n.F. 18), Nr. 1/2: 1–32
  → despite its obsolescence, still very illuminating essay on the importance of the prophetic tradition for Islam.
   
• Gharaibeh, Mohammad (2016), Einführung in die Wissenschaften des Hadith, seine Überlieferungsgeschichte und Literatur, Freiburg: Kalām Verlag.
  → useful and informative German overview of the history and genres of Hadith Literature.
   
• Graham, William (1993): „Traditionalism in Islam. An Essay in Interpretation“, in: Journal of Interdisciplinary History 23 (3), S. 495–522.
  → religious studies approach to the Hadith Tradition, its function and meaning in Islam; explanation of the so-called Isnād paradigm: essential to understand what Hadith Tradition is, what it is based on and why it exists!
   
• Ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Shahrazūrī, Taqī al-Dīn (2006): An Introduction to the Science of the Ḥadīth, übers. von E. Dickinson, Reading, Garnet.
  → English translation of the most important handbook of Hadith Sciences in Sunni Islam.
   
• Sarikaya, Yasar (2021). Hadith und Hadithdidaktik: Eine Einführung. Stuttgart: Schöningh UTB.
  → Basic work on the importance of Hadith in school education and in teaching and learning processes; the first part is also very suitable as a general introduction to Hadith Studies.
   
• Schöller, Marco (2007): Nawawī, Yaḥyā Ibn-Šaraf. Das Buch der vierzig Hadithe. Frankfurt/M: Verlag der Weltreligionen.
  → short introduction to the Hadith Tradition and Translation of a basic work with classical commentaries and commentary on Islamic Studies; belongs in the library of every Theologian.
   
• Speight, R. Marston: (1996): „Hadith and Gospel: Two Modes of Witness to Divine Revelation“. Listening 31, Nr. 3: 172–80.
  → insightful comparative study that does a good job of showing the theological dimension of the Hadith along the way.
   
• Vimercati Sanseverino, Ruggero (2021). „Die Sache des Hadith ernst nehmen: Theologische Hadithstudien und ihre Bedeutung für die Islamische Theologie“. In Perspektiven des Islam. Beiträge zu einer Theologie des Islam, herausgegeben von Jean Ehret und Mouez Khalfaoui, Freiburg: Herder, S. 78–134.
  → Introduction to Hadith Studies as a subject of Islamic Theology, with clarification of scientific theory; exposes basic concepts and addresses authoritative questions: fundamental reading for graduate study.