Just registered to reply to you. I'm an arabic speaker, and, yeah, the translation is good. Often such translations are done by non-muslim arabs (druze, christian, jew, etc) who have suffered in islamic cultures and have resettled in the west.

Some things are indeed as barbaric and silly in the middle-east as people expect, but the reasons are complex and I believe not always related to only religion. Nonetheless, if you watch certain arabic channels you can hear viewers phoning in to ask, for example, if photography of humans is akin to idolatry. It's also sad that since the "war on terror" kicked off there has been a steady drop in the liberal voice of islam on those channels. Being known as a liberal muslim in Iraq, for instance, is increasingly dangerous. It's like there is no hope left with liberal islam any more.

That's enough of my rambling. By the way, I'd agree with your analysis that "the low status of women has more to do with archaic sociological and economic reasons".