Edward Granville Browne

[2][3] Browne then spent a further two years at University of Cambridge studying the languages of India (defined then as Hindustani, Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic) and also gained an M.B.

In April 1902 he was elected Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge.

In London (1885), Browne met Haji Pirzadeh Naeini, a famous intellectual-mystic and world traveler of the Qajar dynasty period, through whom he broadened his interest and knowledge of Persian history, culture, and language.

This relationship led Browne not only to broaden his knowledge and interest in Persia (Iran) but also to ask the British Foreign Office to be assigned consul at the British Embassy to Tehran, which eventually resulted in his publishing A Year Amongst The Persians in 1893.

His interest in the Bábí movement was piqued by a book by de Gobineau found while he was looking for materials on tasawwuf.

The history A Traveller's Narrative was written by `Abdu'l-Bahá and translated by Browne, who added a large introduction and appendices.

Browne was fascinated by the development of the written historical perspectives of the Baháʼís regarding successorship after the Báb including their idea of an independent dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh.

A street named after him in Tehran, as well as a statue depicting him, remained in place even after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.