ISLAMISM. Also known as “political Islam,” Islamism refers to ultraconservative Islamic movements that use their religion to advance political agenda. This term is typically pejorative, used as an epithet by critics of such movements as al-Qaeda and Wahhabism. It should not be confused with the term Islamicist, which is used in academic circles to refer to scholars specializing in Islam. Seizing on the popularity of the term Islamist, some critics of the Religious Right began in the early twenty-first century to refer to politically active conservative Christians as Christianists.