The Yaqeen Institute paper defends the traditional age and argues that maturity and marriage were understood differently then, and that the Prophet’s example is timeless in its principles, not in every particular. Why cite it without engaging its argument?

Yaqeen’s argument is the strongest Muslim response, and it deserves a summary: the Sunnah’s normativity is about principles, and some particulars are bound to context, so timeless example does not mean every act is to be replicated. The Christian reply is that this concedes the point being made, namely that the example is not timeless in all respects and that some criterion outside the Sunnah is needed to sort principle from context. That exchange is the real debate. It is also why this question belongs late in a conversation, not at the start: it is the most inflammatory topic in Christian-Muslim discussion, and it should be raised as a question about the doctrine of the timeless exemplar, with the same question invited about Jesus.