PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) - Terrorism and the new turbulence in global politics are expected to dominate debate when leaders of 57 Islamic nations meet here next week for their first summit since the attacks on the United States.

The extent to which the Islamic world has been shaken by the fallout from the September 11, 2001, airborne assault on New York and Washington will be exemplified by the new representatives from Afghanistan and Iraq -- both in place after U.S.-led invasions.

While the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is not renowned for its international clout, analysts say the October 16-18 summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital, could mark a turning point.

"It's an important opportunity for the Muslim leaders to assess what is happening within the Muslim community," terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna told AFP. "That is the biggest challenge they are facing, more than the dynamics between the Muslims and the West."

Gunaratna, an associate professor at the Singapore-based Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies who has written extensively on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, said terrorism "is a direct result of protracted socio-economic-political-religious unrest". "So instead of pointing the finger at the West they must point the finger at themselves and try to address what has created this fireball in the Muslim world."

Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, agreed.

"While we could point a finger at Western countries and the great battle between the West and the Islamic world, at the end of the day we have to look at our own societies, at our own regimes, we have to look at how we have failed to deliver the goods. "Underdevelopment and poverty are synonymous to Islam and this is not caused by Western countries, this is brought about by our own selves."

Abdul Razak said that while there was evidence of a "clash of civilisations" between Islam and the West, there was also a "clash within the Muslim world.

"What you have is this recipe for disaster where you have Muslims who cannot do anything, they are almost helpless in as far as their own countries are concerned. They are able to move more freely outside their own countries so they find expression outside.