The goal of my project is to classify Islamic new religious movements (NRMs) from an academic point of view to understand when scholars of philosophy and religion accept or condemn belief systems. By developing a system of classification for NRMs (into cults, sects, and religions), I hope to clarify academic discussions on religion so that negative stereotypes of NRMs are not unintentionally perpetuated. Classifying NRMs in a new way would revitalize the outdated and confusing vernacular currently used in academia while also opening a fresh new perspective on identifying trends between NRMs that may cause differences in classification and public perception. My project will consist of two major steps: studying a sample of Islamic NRMs (including the Nation of Islam and the Bahai Faith) and classifying each NRM into the categories of cult (extremist), sect (non-extremist and somewhat conforming), and religion (non-extremist and non-conforming). Researching the academia behind Islamic NRMs would open up more detail into factors contributing to how academics currently classify Islamic NRMs and would inform my own classification system.