Is it obligatory to combine the prayer upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with the salam?

The questioner : Some people say that if we greet the Prophet, we must pray upon him, or that it is recommended.

The Shaykh : Upon whom we have prayed.

The questioner : And greeted him.

The Shaykh : Or if we greet him, that we have prayed upon him.

The questioner : No, regarding what some said about greeting him, they say it is recommended to pray upon him and it is disliked not to pray upon him. It is obligatory that we recite both.

The Shaykh : The correct view is that it is not obligatory and it is not disliked to separate them. That is, the correct view is that it is not obligatory to combine the prayer and the salam. It is not obligatory to combine the prayer and the salam, and it is not disliked to separate one of them, even though some scholars held that combining them is obligatory based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: . But the correct view is that combining them is not obligatory and separating them is not disliked. The evidence for this is that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the response to the mu'adhdhin, saying that we should say what he says, he said, "Then pray upon me," and he did not mention the salam. If it had been obligatory, if combining them had been obligatory, he would have said, "Pray upon me and send salam upon me."