Editing Murad IV (section)

== Reign ==

=== Early reign (1623–1632) ===
[[File:IV Murad young age.jpg|thumb|Murad&nbsp;IV in his young age|right]]
[[File:Murat IV with dishes.jpg|thumb|right|Ottoman miniature painting depicting Murad&nbsp;IV during dinner]]
[[File:Murad IV minature.jpg|thumb|right|Murad&nbsp;IV by [[Abdulcelil Levni]]]]

Murad&nbsp;IV was for a long time under the control of his relatives and during his early years as Sultan; his mother, [[Kösem Sultan]], essentially ruled through him. In this period, the [[Safavid Empire]] invaded [[Baghdad Eyalet|Iraq]], Northern [[Anatolia Eyalet|Anatolia]] erupted in revolts, and in 1631 the [[Janissary|Janissaries]] stormed the palace and killed the Grand Vizier, among others.

At the age of 16 in 1628, he had his brother-in-law (his sister [[Fatma Sultan (daughter of Ahmed I)|Fatma Sultan]]'s husband, who was also the former governor of Egypt), [[Kara Mustafa Pasha (governor of Egypt)|Kara Mustafa Pasha]], executed for a claimed action "against the law of God".<ref name="France1796-51">{{cite book |title=Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WJFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51 |volume=2 |year=1789 |publisher=R. Faulder |page=51 |quote=The sultan Morad put him to death in the year 1037 [AH], for some action which was contrary to the law of God.}}</ref>

After the death of the Grand Vizier Çerkes Mehmed Pasha in the winter of [[Tokat]], Diyarbekir Beylerbeyi Hafiz Ahmed Pasha became a vizier on 8&nbsp;February 1625.{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=225}}

An epidemic, which started in the summer of 1625 and was called the [[plague (disease)|plague]] of Bayrampaşa, spread to threaten the population of [[Constantinople]] (present day [[Istanbul]]). On average, a thousand people died every day. The people fled to the Okmeydanı to escape the plague. The situation was worse in the countryside outside of Constantinople.{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=225}}

=== Absolute rule and imperial policies (1632–1640) ===
In 1632, Murad&nbsp;IV banned the smoking of tobacco and opium and closed [[Ottoman coffeehouse|coffeehouses]], which were believed to be centers of sedition. Also in the same year as noted by [[Dimitrie Cantemir]], he legalized the selling and drinking of alcohol even for Muslims, an act which had no precedent at the time. Previously known to be fond of drinking, in 1634 he realized the dangers of wine, and banned both the sale and drinking of alcohol and ordered taverns to close.<ref>{{cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9OLDwAAQBAJ |title=Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-85772-870-8 |pages=94 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=İnalcık |first=Halil |url=https://archive.org/details/ottomanempirecla0000inal/page/99 |title=The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 |author2=Imber, Colin |publisher=Aristide D. Caratzas |year=1989 |isbn=0-89241-388-3 |location=New Rochelle, N.Y. |page=[https://archive.org/details/ottomanempirecla0000inal/page/99 99]}} 2nd paragraph, from 3rd sentence onward</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stoianovich |first=Traian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqVzCQAAQBAJ |title=Balkan Worlds: The First and Last Europe |date=2015-05-20 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47614-6 |language=en}}</ref> He ordered execution for breaking this ban<ref>{{cite book |title=Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs |last=Hari |first=Johann |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |year=2015 |isbn=978-1620408902 |pages=262}}</ref> and restored the judicial regulations by very strict punishments, including execution; he once strangled a [[Grand Vizier|grand vizier]] for the reason that the official had beaten his mother-in-law.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=William Stearns |title=A short history of the Near East: from the founding of Constantinople (330 A.D. to 1922) |publisher=The Macmillan Company |year=1922 |location=New York |pages=259–260}}</ref>

=== Fire of 1633 ===
On 2 September 1633,{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=232}} the Cibali fire broke out, burning a fifth of the city. The fire started during the day when a caulker burned a shrub and a ship caulked into the walls. The fire spread in three branches to the city. One arm lowered towards the sea.{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=232}} It returned from Zeyrek and walked to Atpazan. The most beautiful districts of Constantinople were ruined, from the Yeniodas, Mollagürani districts, Fener gate to Sultanselim, Mesihpaşa, Bali Pasha and Lutfi Pasha mosques, Şahı buhan Palace, Unkapanı to Atpazarı, Bostanzade houses, and Sofular Bazaar. The fire that lasted for 30 hours was only extinguished after the wind stopped.{{sfn|Sakaoğlu|2015|p=232}}

=== War against Safavid Iran ===
Murad&nbsp;IV's reign is most notable for the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39)]] against Persia (today Iran) in which Ottoman forces managed to conquer Azerbaijan, occupying [[Tabriz]], [[Hamadan]], and capturing [[Baghdad]] in 1638. The [[Treaty of Zuhab]] that followed the war generally reconfirmed the borders as agreed by the [[Peace of Amasya]], with Eastern Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Dagestan staying Persian, Western Georgia stayed Ottoman.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yED-aVDCbycC&q=ottoman+empire+western+armenia+safavid&pg=PA228|title=Genocide and the Modern Age: Etiology and Case Studies of Mass Death|isbn=9780815628286|access-date=2014-12-30|last1=Wallimann|first1=Isidor|last2=Dobkowski|first2=Michael N.|date=March 2000|publisher=Syracuse University Press }}</ref> Mesopotamia was irrevocably lost for the Persians.<ref name="Roemer285">[[#Roemer|Roemer]] (1989), p.&nbsp;285</ref> The borders fixed as a result of the war, are more or less the same as the present border line between [[Iraq]] and [[Iran]].

During the siege of [[Baghdad]] in 1638, the city held out for forty days but was [[Capture of Baghdad (1638)|compelled to surrender]].

Murad&nbsp;IV himself commanded the [[Ottoman Army]] in the last years of the war.

=== Relations with the Mughal Empire ===
While he was encamped in [[Baghdad]], Murad&nbsp;IV is known to have met ambassadors of the Mughal Emperor [[Shah Jahan]], Mir Zarif and Mir Baraka, who presented 1000 pieces of finely embroidered cloth and even armor. Murad&nbsp;IV gave them the finest weapons, [[saddle]]s and [[Kaftan]]s and ordered his forces to accompany the [[Mughals]] to the port of [[Basra]], where they set sail to [[Thatta]] and finally [[Surat]].<ref name="google">{{cite book |title=Mughal-Ottoman relations: a study of political & diplomatic relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556-1748 |author=Farooqi, N. R. |date=1989 |publisher=Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uB1uAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2015-06-14}}</ref>