In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Betower of Mercy.

Ibnul Qaasim [rahimahullaah] said: I heard Maalik [i.e. Imaam Maalik (rahimahullaah)] saying: “Indeed a people sought after the path of worship and abandoned knowledge, so they rebelled against the Ummah of Muhammad [sallal-laahu-alayhi-wasallam] with their swords [i.e. khawaarij]. And had they sought the means to [acquiring] knowledge [first], they would have been prevented from that [rebellion]”. [Miftaah Daarus Sa’aadah 1/392]