What is the best path in seeking knowledge?

Question:
I ask you to clarify the best path for seeking knowledge, and how it is to be done? Does it have conditions? And what are the sciences with which one begins first, before others? And what are the books that are beneficial?

Answer:
Seeking knowledge, as you have mentioned, is among the most important matters, and its greatest condition is: sincerity for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), then diligence, perseverance, and patience. Many people may seek knowledge, but they do not have diligence, patience, and steadfastness. So, a good intention and sincerity for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in that is necessary, and diligence, activity, and patience are necessary.
Then, attention to the fundamentals: studying the creed, which are the concise books explaining the reality of what Allah sent the messengers with, and sent down the books with, and created the two groups for, so that it becomes the foundation. It is: faith in Allah alone, and that He is the one worthy of worship, and faith in His names and attributes as they came in the Book and the Sunnah, without distortion, denial of the divine attributes, asking how an attribute is, or comparing Allah to creation, and memorizing what is feasible of the texts in that, and memorizing what is feasible of the texts of hadith as well, along with the necessary attention to the Noble Qur'an, and memorizing what is feasible of it at the beginning of the path, and continuing to proceed in memorizing the Book of Allah along with what is feasible of the texts in creed and hadith, until he completes the memorization of his Lord's Book, and until he completes what is feasible of the basic texts for memorizing the creed, and a collection of the noble hadiths that the believer needs in his creed, and in the foundation of his religion.