What is the ruling on seeking Islamic knowledge?

Seeking Islamic knowledge is fard
kifaayah: if enough people undertake this duty, it becomes Sunnah for
the rest of them. Seeking knowledge may become obligatory on each individual,
i.e. fard ‘ayn, in the case of knowledge of an act of worship he wants
to do or interaction he wants to engage in. In this case he has to know
how to worship Allaah by this act of worship, or how to engage in this
interaction. But knowledge other than this is fard kifaayah, so the
seeker of knowledge should have the intention of undertaking something
which is fard kifaayah, so that he may attain the reward for one who
is doing something obligatory whilst he is seeking knowledge.

 Undoubtedly seeking knowledge
is one of the best of deeds; indeed it is a kind of jihaad for the sake
of Allaah, especially in these modern times when bid’ahs have begun
to appear in Muslim societies and are becoming widespread, and ignorance
is common among those who issue fatwas without knowledge, and people
have started to argue a great deal. These three issues all make it essential
that young people be keen to seek knowledge.

 1 – Bid’ahs whose evil is
apparent

2 – People who issue fatwas without
knowledge

3 – Extensive arguing about issues
which may be clear to the scholars but there are people who argue about
them without knowledge.

 For this reason we need
scholars who have deep and extensive knowledge, who have an understanding
of Islam, who are wise in advising the slaves of Allaah, because many
people nowadays have theoretical knowledge, but they do not focus on
finding the best means of reforming and educating people. They do not
realize that if they issue a fatwa saying such and such, it becomes
lead to greater evil, the extent of which no one knows except Allaah.