Can memorizing a few hadiths daily with the intention of gaining a deeper understanding of the religion and knowledge of the Sunnah be considered an entry point to becoming a student or scholar of Islamic knowledge?

Whoever memorizes and understands prophetic hadith, even generally, is considered among the students of knowledge and attains their virtues, such as in the hadith: "Welcome, seeker of knowledge! Indeed, the angels encompass the seeker of knowledge with their wings..." And the hadith: "Whoever traverses a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise" indicates the comprehensiveness of the virtue of seeking knowledge for any religious knowledge, whether little or much.

The ranks of students of knowledge vary, and the status of scholars is higher and more glorious, for they are the inheritors of the prophets. The true scholar is one qualified for issuing fatwas and teaching, and one who acts upon his knowledge, fearing Allah, as He Almighty said: "Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge."