They believe the inscription is `La Ilaha Illalahu Muhammadur Rasulullah', the Arabic kalma which means No one but Allah is worthy of worship. Not only Muslims but followers of other faiths are visiting the shop out of sheer curiosity.

Experts, however, say barring a couple of letters, the inscription bears little resemblance to the Arabic script, pointing out that even the first letter `La' begins after a series of inscrutable alphabet.

Ishwarbhai Gajjar, the owner of Vishwakarma Marble and Stone near the Gujarat Electricity Board office, had purchased a huge quantity of marbles from Rajasthan about a month ago. He set aside the slab on noticing the inscription.

A Muslim buyer from Olpad saw it and told him that it was an Arabic kalma. Ishwarbhai discussed it with Muslim friends, who endorsed the view. Still unimpressed, Ishwarbhai got in touch with maulavi Taher Abdul Rahim Sadiq, a resident of Rander.

After reading the inscription, the maulvi wrote the original kalma on a piece of paper with its meaning in Gujarati. However, he did not say the two were same. Ishwarbhai displays this paper when people who follow Arabic and know the kalma question him about the inscription.

``About 2,000 persons, mostly religious, have visited my shop in the last few days. The news has spread everywhere,'' he claims, saying the number of visitors has been increasing by the day.

When told that the inscription was not the same as he had been telling his visitors, a visibly irritated Ishwarbhai told Express Newsline: ``it's kala akshar bhains Barabar for me (it's Greek to me). I have been passing on to others what I have been given to understand.'' He denies some people are ready to spend a fortune to buy the slab.

A scholar at Islamic Information International rubbished the claim that the inscription is an Arabic kalma. ``The calligraphy is similar but to accord it religious sanction amounts to cheap publicity. Islam does not need that," he says.

Ishwarbhai has framed the slab and hung it in his office. Another slab has been kept on a chair with a pitcher next to it. ``Don't be surprised if you find flowers the next day,'' says the scholar.