مراد الثالث

Sultan Murad III ibn Selim II, who ruled from 982 to 1003 AH (1574–1595 CE), and was the son and successor of Selim II. Al-Salabi says that he cared for learning, literature and poetry, mastered Turkish, Arabic and Persian, and inclined to Sufism. ²

He ordered at the beginning of his reign the prohibition of wine-drinking, and the Janissaries rebelled and forced him to retreat. This is counted as an early sign of the state's weakness. In his reign Poland came under Ottoman protection, Tbilisi was taken in 985 AH, and the Ottomans entered Tabriz in 993 AH. ²

He proposed a military alliance to the Sa'dis in Rajab 988 AH against the Spaniards. In his reign the grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was killed. Al-Salabi says that his death opened a door of evil in the appointment and dismissal of viziers. ²

He died on 16 January 1595 CE aged about forty-nine, and was buried in the courtyard of Hagia Sophia. ²

After Spain annexed Portugal in 988/1580, Murad III sent two letters that Rajab offering the Sa'dis a military alliance against the Spanish on the basis of a war fleet and troops — "we shall send you three hundred sultanic galleys and an army of might and victory and Ottoman braves, with which, God willing, you may conquer the lands of al-Andalus." When his fleet commander Uluj Ali reached Algiers in Jumada II 989/June 1581 to annex Morocco, he found Ahmad al-Mansur camped at the Tensift with his shores fortified and a near-agreement with Spain — so Murad accepted the fait accompli and ordered him to abandon Morocco for the east, where the Hejaz had grown troubled ¹.