Are Hadiths unique among archival studies? Do we have comparable cases of people recording, and later fabricating the smallest sayings of a single figure like Muhammad? How does historical analysis of the early Islamic Empire and Muhammad as an individual differ from other fields because of this?

by Oedium

Surely the nature of authentic hadith is weird in a historiographical sense, right? One person who is having most mildly significant sayings and actions recorded, to varying degrees of believability, all in the seventh century. Not only that, but their religious nature must influence interpretation. How are hadiths treated as a resource, and how unique are they in the patterns of historical record?

ctesibius

I suppose the OT books Proverbs and Ecclesiastes might be a little similar in respect of Solomon (although they do state other authors for some of the content). Yes, the Muslims were vastly more rigourous, and there is debate over whether Solomon existed.