Murad IV

Murad IV, son of Sultan Ahmad I, was Ottoman sultan from 1032 to 1049 AH (1622–1640 CE). He came to the throne after the deposition of his uncle Mustafa; he was the brother of Sultan Osman II, whom the Janissaries had killed. ¹

The Janissaries dominated him at first because of his youth, and the state's affairs were in disarray. He began by setting the internal situation right, eliminated the military tyrants who had killed his brother, built a strong intelligence apparatus that let him name the despots in every province, and banned wine and tobacco in his reign. ¹

War with the Safavids broke out in Iraq in 1044 AH (1634 CE). Murad led the armies himself toward Baghdad, which Shah Abbas had seized, besieged it, demolished much of its walls with artillery and entered it in 1048 AH; he stayed there a while, restored its buildings, repaired the walls and appointed a governor. He suffered from gout and died in February 1640 after a reign of nearly seventeen years; he had received an empty treasury and left it full, and historians call him "the second founder of the state." ²