The Qur'an says: ?And the believers should not all go out and fight. Of every troop of them, a party should go forth, that they (who are left behind) may gain sound knowledge in religion, and that they may warn their folk when they return to them, so that they may beware.?

And
?...Ask the people of Remembrance if you do not know.?

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
?Whoever treads a path seeking knowledge therein, Allah directs him to a path leading to ?Al-Jannah? (Paradise).?

He (peace be upon him) also said:
?The quest for knowledge is a compulsion on every Muslim.?
N.B. The knowledge referred to above is knowledge in Deen because that is the only knowledge that is Waajib. The people who use this hadeeth to represent seeking after every type of knowledge are misusing it.

~ Abu Dardaa? said:
?To learn of one issue (in deen) is better for me than to pray the entire night?

He also said:
?The scholar and the seeker of knowledge are the partners in the sharing of good. Other men are hungry and there is no good in them.?

~ Fath Al Musilee (radhiallahu anhu) said:
?Would the sick person who is not fed or given anything to drink or given any medicine, not die?? The people replied: ?Surely!?

He said: ?It is the same with the heart, it would die if knowledge and wisdom is withheld from it.?
Indeed he spoke the truth because the nourishment and enlivening of the heart is through knowledge and wisdom, just as food is nourishment for the body.

Whoever does not acquire knowledge of the deen of Islam, has a sick heart and its death is inevitable. However, he is not aware of it, because his love for this world destroys his perception.