"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎١‎٨‎٣] (١٧٨٢/١٣٣٨)

™tfj i jp.
m ofctaii:
1183
of about a year, and he was succeeded by Murad IV, a younger brother of
'Othman II, whose age, at his accession on the 10th September 1623,
was only 11 years. Murad occupied the throne until his death on the 9th
of February 164)0.
Relations with Persia, 1622—40.
The peace between Turkey and Persia was of short duration, for the
Persians were not slow in turning- to account the military superiority
\Vhich at this period they indisputably possessed over the Turks, and
they soon began to threaten Baghdad. Baghdad was in the
possession of a local ' c tyrant/ ' who had seized the government and was
endeavouring to make himself independent of the Porte; but in 1628
his son, named Darwish Muhammad, betrayed the city into the hands
of Shah 'Abbas, who at once occupied it and put the usurping ruler
publicly to death. Kirkuk, Musal and "'Anah were then taken and garri
soned by the Persians ; but the invaders did not long retain possession
of 'Anah, whence their Qizilbash garrison was expelled soon after the
return of Shah 'Abbas to Persia by Mutlaq, surnamed Abu Rish, the
greatest of all the Arab Shaikhs of the desert. Hillah, Karbala and
Najaf appear to have come under the authority of the Shah soon after
the fall of Baghdad ; and there were fears, though ill-founded, on the
part of the Turks for the safety even of Aleppo. Imam Quli Khan,
governor of Shiraz, whom the Shah had ordered to join him in the opera
tions against Baghdad, did not arrive until after the taking of the place;
he had been delayed en route by difficulties with the Shaikh of Hawizeh,
who as a vassal of Persia should have accompanied his march.
Aftei the fall of Hormuz in 1622 the Portuguese at first withdrew
altogether from business in Persia and began to dispose of their goods
chiefly at Basrah,—a system of trading which was highly disadvan
tageous to Persia, and one which the Shah, on account of his naval
weakness, could not hope to prevent except by capturing Basrah. He
consequently required the Pasha of Basrah, then Afrasiyab, a native
of the country, to acknowledge the suzerainty of Persia by causing
Persian coin to be struck, by substituting the name of the Shah for that
of the Sultan in public prayers, and by obliging the people of Basrah
to wear their turbans in the Persian style; and he promised that, on these
conditions, being fulfilled, the Pasha and his heirs should be recognised as
Occupation
of Baghdad
by the Per
sians, 1623.
Attacks by
the Persians
on Basrah or
its dependen
cies, 1624-25.
' : t T
i jj
n.