Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Superiority of knowledge is better than superiority in worship.” [Mishkat al-Masabih]
Rasulullah (saws) enjoined us to seek knowledge from cradle to grave, even if we have to travel as far as China in search of such. He (saws) in another hadith also said one knowledgeable person is harder on Shaitan than a thousand worshippers.
If you hire somebody and he spends the whole day admiring you, praising you, honouring you and commending you but does not do his job; would you be happy with him? Then how can you expect Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) to be pleased with your worship if you do not execute the rest of the duties that He has placed upon you? And how can you know what these duties are unless you seek knowledge from the Quran and Sunnah? The usefulness of beneficial knowledge cannot be over-estimated.
