Is it better to give the adhaan and take care of the mosque, or to seek knowledge?
Question

                I have been religiously committed for a while, praise be to Allaah, and Allaah has enabled me to pray regularly in congregation in the mosque at all times. When the administration of the mosque saw that I am so regular, they put me in charge of opening and closing the mosque, and giving the adhaan. But there are a number of lessons in fiqh and Tawheed that are given in mosques that are far away from our mosque, and the brothers told me that seeking knowledge is better than giving the adhaan. But I am now tied to the mosque at all times even though I have brought some CDs of these lessons and listen to them. Is it better to give the adhaan or to seek knowledge?.
Praise be to Allah.
    Giving the adhaan, coming early to prayer and taking care of 
    the mosque are all great acts of worship and beneficial righteous deeds 
    which are encouraged in Islam, in many well-known ahaadeeth. 

    The texts also speak of the virtue and honourable status of 
    knowledge and encourage us to seek it. 

    It should be noted that seeking knowledge may be an 
    individual obligation (fard ‘ayn), i.e., the knowledge that makes one’s 
    belief (‘aqeedah), worship and actions correct. It is not permissible to 
    neglect this kind of knowledge or to be distracted from seeking it, either 
    by the adhaan or anything else. 

    The knowledge that is essential includes: knowledge of 
    ‘aqeedah (belief, doctrine) and Tawheed in general, knowledge of the rulings 
    on prayer and fasting, knowledge of the rulings on zakaah for those who have 
    wealth on which zakaah is due, and knowledge of the rulings on Hajj for 
    those who want to go to Hajj. 

    It is also essential to know the rulings on buying and 
    selling for those who want to engage in that; rulings on marriage and 
    divorce, food and drink, and other actions and transactions in which people 
    may wish to engage. 

    Al-Mannaawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: There are 
    nearly twenty different opinions regarding what areas of knowledge should 
    take precedence, all of which offer evidence to support their view. The best 
    that can be said is what al-Qaadi said: What we cannot do without knowing, 
    such as knowledge of the Creator (Allaah, may He be exalted and glorified) 
    and the Prophethood of His Messengers, and how to pray etc., knowing these 
    things is an individual obligation. 

    Fayd al-Qadeer, 4/267. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 
    Seeking Islamic knowledge is a communal obligation (fard kifaayah); if 
    sufficient people undertake it, then for the rest it becomes Sunnah. And 
    seeking knowledge may be an individual obligation. The guideline is if it is 
    needed for an act of worship that he wants to do or a transaction or 
    interaction he wants to engage in; in that case he must learn how to worship 
    Allaah by doing this act of worship, and how to undertake that transaction 
    etc. Apart from that, seeking knowledge is a communal obligation and the 
    seeker of knowledge should feel that he is undertaking a communal obligation 
    so that he will attain the reward for undertaking an obligation as well as 
    gaining knowledge. 

    From Kitaab al-‘Ilm. 
You have done well by 
    bringing the CDs of the lessons, because that is a means of seeking 
    knowledge, although it does not mean that you do not need to sit with the 
    scholars and learn from them, and ask them about anything you do not 
    understand. 

    It seems that in your situation, where you are trying to 
    decide whether it is better to give the adhaan and take care of the mosque, 
    or to seek knowledge that is not an individual obligation, that you should 
    try to combine the best of both, by regularly attending some classes, and 
    continuing to look after the mosque, and make up for the classes you miss by 
    using the CDs, as well as asking the scholars about anything you do not 
    understand. If the administration of the mosque do not agree with you being 
    absent sometimes, then give precedence to seeking knowledge, for it is a 
    source of honour and status in this world and in the Hereafter, especially 
    since there will never be a shortage of people to give the adhaan and take 
    care of the mosque, but those who are serious in the pursuit of knowledge 
    are few and far between. 

    Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, explaining 
    the virtue of knowledge:  (108): Many of the imams clearly stated that the 
    best of deeds after the obligatory duties is seeking knowledge. Al-Shaafa’i 
    said: There is nothing after the obligatory duties that is better than 
    seeking knowledge. This is what his companions narrated was his opinion. 
    This was also stated by Sufyaan al-Thawri, and the Hanafis narrated this 
    from Abu Haneefah. Three opinions were narrated from Imam Ahmed: 

    The first was that the best of deeds after the obligatory 
    duties is seeking knowledge, because it was said to him: “What thing is 
    dearest to you, for me to sit at night copying (texts) or to offer voluntary 
    prayers? He said: Your copying (texts) and learning about your religion from 
    it, that is dearer to me. Al-Khallaal quoted many texts from him in 
    Kitaab al-‘Ilm about the virtue of knowledge, for example, he said: 
    People’s need for knowledge is greater than their need for food and drink. 

    The second is that the best of deeds after the obligatory 
    duties is voluntary prayer, and he quoted as evidence for this the words 
    “Know that the best of your deeds is prayer” and the hadeeth of Abu Dharr, 
    when he asked him (the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon 
    him)) about prayer and he said “(It) is the best that has been prescribed.” 
    And he quoted the fact that the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah 
    be upon him) advised the one who asked to be close to him in Paradise to do 
    a lot of prostration, i.e., prayer, and the fact that in another hadeeth he 
    said: “You should prostrate, for you do not do one prostration for Allaah, 
    but Allaah will raise you one degree (in status) thereby and will remove one 
    sin from you thereby.” And there are many other ahaadeeth which speak of the 
    virtue of prayer. 

    The third opinion is that jihad is the best of deeds, and he 
    (Imam Ahmad) said: I cannot think of anything that matches jihad. And there 
    is no doubt that most of the ahaadeeth speak of prayer and jihad. 

    With regard to Maalik, Ibn al-Qaasim said: I heard Maalik 
    say: Some people pursued worship and ignored knowledge, then they engaged in 
    an armed rebellion against the ummah of Muhammad. If they had sought 
    knowledge, it would have prevented them from doing that. Maalik said: Abu 
    Moosa al-Ash’ari wrote to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (saying) that there are 
    people with us who read the Qur’aan, such and such a number of them. ‘Umar 
    wrote back to him, telling him to allocate them a stipend from the bayt 
    al-Maal (treasury of the Islamic state). The following year, he wrote to him 
    saying that many people, more than before, were reading the Qur’aan. ‘Umar 
    wrote back to him telling him to erase their names from the record saying, 
    “I am afraid that people will be hasty in reading the Qur’aan and will not 
    understand the religion properly, then they will distort its meanings.” Ibn 
    Wahb said: Maalik ibn Anas was in front of me and I put my tablets down and 
    got up to pray, and he said: “What you have got up for is better than that 
    which you have left.” From Miftaah Daar al-Sa’aadah, 1/119. 
And Allaah knows 
    best.