Is the sending of blessings upon the family of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a pillar or an obligation?

Question : All right, and the sending of blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is good, and upon his family?

Answer : No, it is not a pillar. The sending of blessings upon the family is not a pillar nor an obligation; rather, it is a recommended practice (sunnah). This is one of the strange things, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If we take that, how can we split the hadith and make one word of it a pillar and the rest a recommended practice? This is strange in terms of evidence. Either the whole thing is made a pillar, or an obligation, or a recommended practice. If they say, "We made the sending of blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a pillar, but not upon the family, because the conjunction in it indicates subordination to Muhammad and to the family of Muhammad," we say: If it indicates subordination, then the subordinate has the same ruling as the one it is subordinate to. Its ruling is the ruling of the one it is subordinate to.