How to Seek Knowledge and the Ruling on Seeking It from Books

Question:
This questioner says: Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. To proceed: First, I love you for the sake of Allah. How I wish that Allah would make the path of knowledge and acting upon it easy for me, so please make du'a for me. Second, our question is: Among the keys to the books of knowledge mentioned by Imam al-Shatibi in al-Muwafaqat, Part One, we learned, and Allah knows best, that he permitted seeking knowledge from books. Is this correct? Please inform us, even if only with a brief summary, of how to seek knowledge. Please advise us, and may Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
As for your love for the sake of Allah, we say: May Allah love you. This is what encourages one. As for seeking knowledge and understanding the religion, this is among the most important matters. We ask Allah to grant us and you, and all the listeners, and all Muslims, beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds. Seeking knowledge is among the most important matters. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is agreed upon that it is authentic. Among the signs of goodness, success, and happiness is that a servant understands the religion of Allah, learns, takes the middle path, and is patient.
He said (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever .” And he said (peace and blessings be upon him): “The best of people are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it” . The best of people are the people of the Qur'an, in learning and teaching. The student of knowledge from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—we advise you to do this. We advise you to be diligent in seeking knowledge, to attend circles of knowledge, and if you have a scholar among the people of knowledge, stick to him and read to him. If not, then travel. In the past, people used to travel for knowledge, and in the present time, though it is less, but in the past they used to travel. So traveling in the pursuit of knowledge is among the most important matters. If you travel to a place known for the Sunnah, known for sound creed, and you read to them, this is from jihad, and among the best of knowledge.
It is among the best of causes, and among the best of deeds. I have heard the hadith: This includes traveling, and it includes going from your house to the mosque to seek knowledge, from mosque to mosque, from village to village. It also possibly includes the spiritual paths, such as reviewing books and asking the people of knowledge. All of this is among the paths of knowledge. A person of intellect should not be weary of this; rather, he should be active in seeking knowledge and patient. Ibn Abbas used to seek knowledge in Madinah, receiving it from the Companions. He would sit at their doors, and when they came out, he would follow them to ask questions.