Hi Rob,
I am glad that the book was helpful. Please don't feel bad about the technical parts going funny, it is quite complicated. What I know is that to make Arabic fonts work on PCS you would need to do some Volt encoding. You can start by researching this on Microsoft's website (they have a section on typography that has some very informative tips and helpful information).
I suggest to write directly to the designers that worked on the Typographic Matchmaking project. Start by writing directly (through this site) to Pascal Zoghbi or Peter Bilak with specific questions.
Best of luck further and we hope to see some samples of your Arabic type design displayed on this site in the very near future.
with best regards,
Huda