He loves knowledge - how may he attain it?
Question

                I am a young man aged 21. I observe the obligatory duties, praise be to Allaah, and I have memorized the Qur’aan completely. I have a very good memory and I love books very much. I want to seek knowledge, and I attend study circles and lessons in fiqh, ‘aqeedah and hadeeth, but I am certain that this is not enough and that the seeker of knowledge has to work hard. I want to memorize, read and study, but I do not know how, with what or where to start. For a long time I have been jumping from one book to another without any method. My fear is that my precious life will pass in studying matters that were not worth spending so much time on. My wish is to follow in the footsteps of Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) and earn reward like him and more, by the grace of Allaah, whether my life is long or short. This is what I want and this is what I will attain, by the will of Allaah, no matter what it takes. I will pay the price of that by giving up my youth, leisure time, happiness, sleep and laziness.

 These are not just words spoken at a time of zeal; this is what preoccupies my thoughts night and day. I am serious and I hope that you can pay me some attention even if it only a reply to this letter. I want to know whether I can achieve that, i.e., what I have mentioned above – or if it is too late – and how I can do that. May Allaah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allah.Who has given you these lofty ambitions, bestowed blessings upon you 
          and guided you to the path of truth with the clearest proof. 
         
          And blessings 
          and peace be upon the Prophet of this ummah, who explained the proof 
          and guided mankind to the path to Paradise. 
 
          My dear brother, 
          I offer you my warmest congratulations. 
 
          What a great blessing 
          Allaah has bestowed upon you and what great favour He has given you. 
          He has helped you to memorize the Qur’aan, praise be to Allaah in the 
          beginning and at the end. Then He has made knowledge dear to you, and 
          this is one of the greatest blessings. “Whomever Allaah wills good for, 
          He causes him to understand the religion.” And “whoever gains knowledge 
          has gained great good fortune” – because Allaah says (interpretation 
          of the meaning): 
 
          “Allaah will 
          exalt in degree those of you who believe, and those who have been granted 
          knowledge”
 
          [al-Mujaadilah 
          58:11]
 
          Then He blessed 
          you even further, and gave you a sublime ambition and an ambitious soul, 
          and we ask Allaah to increase you in goodness.  
 
          Having a sublime 
          ambition is one of the greatest of things and an honour. So you have 
          to be thankful to Allaah and do the right thing with regard to that 
          which you have been given. 
 
          With regard to 
          the books which you should study, they are listed in question #20191; 
          please refer to this question as it is very important. 
 
          After you have 
          memorized the summarized books properly, with their commentaries, and 
          you have understood any difficult passages in them and understood the 
          important points, then move on to studying the detailed versions, always 
          reviewing what you have learned and noting the valuable points, subtle 
          issues, strange minor issues, solutions to problems and differences 
          between similar rulings, in all branches of knowledge. Do not think 
          little of anything useful that you learn or any basic principle that 
          you understand; instead, hasten to note and memorize it. 
 
          Let your concern 
          to seek knowledge be uppermost; do not be content to learn only a little 
          when you are able to do more. Do not be content with a little of the 
          legacy of the Prophets (may the blessings of Allaah be upon them), and 
          do not delay learning anything that you can, or be distracted or put 
          off by wishful thinking. Delay is a problem, and if you learn something 
          now you can learn something else later. 
 
          Make the most 
          of your time, when you are free and when you are busy. Make the most 
          of your youth when your mind is fresh and you have less distractions, 
          before you become distracted by false ambitions and the desire for worldly 
          possessions.
 You 
          should try to obtain as many of the books you need as you can, because 
          they are the tools of learning. Do not make getting and keeping a lot 
          of them (without benefiting from them) the only share of knowledge that 
          you have, and collecting them the only share of understanding that you 
          have. You also have to use and benefit from them as much as you can.
 
          We ask Allaah to grant you strength. And Allaah knows 
          best.