In my view he is making several critical errors, first and foremost asserting that Islam is fundamentally different than the other two monotheastic religions, and that it is derived not from the same mythological sources, but Bedouin ones. And secondly he seems to be saying that Sharia is an expression of Bedouin tribal practices and not an interpretation of Islam based in the Qur'an and Hadith. More or less he is saying that Sharia is a Bedouin practice that predates Islam and inspired Islam, and that "stoning" is a part of that practice.
Essentially, he is saying that Sharia is the inspiration for Islam.
If that is the case, then why is stoning hardly ever mentioned in the Qur'an, but appears frequently in the Torah? In fact, it appears as a specific reference to the Torah, and this in and of itself, yet again indicates that the Mohammed drew heavily upon the other two popular monotheastic religions for inspiration.
In fact, "stoning" is not practiced among the vast majority of Muslims, even among those who purport to be observing Sharia, and this is because there is very little basis for it in Hadith or the Qur'an itself.
Furthermore, he is completely ignoring the fact that the practice of Sharia in Saudi Arabia, and the other countries he mentions, where "stoning" is practiced, is actually the expression of modern Salafist/Whahabbist Islam which is basicly a 20th century invention based on the works of a single 19th century Islamic scholar.
In fact Salifism is as traditionally Islamic, as Zinoism is traditionally Jewish. Both of course claim they are true expressions of their religion in practice, but such claims are theologically tenuous.
[ 04 November 2007: Message edited by: Cueball ]