Where is the Roots, Where is the Branches?

1
I think in religious studies as well as other fields of social sciences ,we have to do a mythological refinement. We have to avoid talking about general topics such as religion or even Islam. As soon as I think about Islam, I encounter different historical or possible versions of Islam that don’t have necessarily anything essential in common. I guess giving any statement about Islam is either wrong or useless.

2
People who believe that Islam is such and such (ie Violent, political…) always try to find a theoretical aspect in Islam that can’t be changed since it is logically/correctly concluded/inferred from Koran or other Islamic resources. I think that is a sound approach in order to find essential aspects of a system (if we relate the violence in Islam to economic situation, we won’t be able to prove that violence is essential in Islam.) But the question now is if Islam has any solid theoretical structure that forces the believers to follow that…

3
Due to my philosophy background, I tend to look for essential aspects of phenomenon including Islam; however, I think it is nearly an impossible task. Since I don’t want to give up my essentialist tendency, I reduce Islam to different paradigms of Islam that has already practiced in Muslim’s history. As far as I can see, these paradigms are quit diverse. Jurists vs. theologs and theologds vs. theologs. Yes, there is common thread of believing in god, if it is helpful for essentialists! Other that that, I see amazing differences… I will talk about these differences.