{{Infobox monarch| | name = Muhammad IV | succession = ''Mai'' of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | reign = 15th century (0–5 years)<br/>{{Circa}} 1451–1456{{efn|name=MuhammadReign}} | predecessor = Amarma | successor = Gaji | death_date = {{circa}} 1456 | death_place = "Meghjibád-Nerí-Kerbúri" | issue = | house = Sayfawa dynasty (Dawudid{{efn|The 14th and 15th centuries saw protracted civil wars between the rival Idrisid (descendants of Idris I Nikalemi) and Dawudid (descendants of Dawud Nikalemi) branches of the Sayfawa dynasty.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://www.google.se/books/edition/Dictionary_of_African_Biography/39JMAgAAQBAJ |title=Dictionary of African Biography |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5 |pages=172–173 |language=en |chapter=Ali Gajideni}}</ref>}}) | house-type = Dynasty | father = Kade III }} '''Muhammad IV'''{{efn|Some chronologies of Kanem–Bornu rulers omit the 14th-century Muhammad II Manza, lowering the regnal numbers of later rulers of this name. This ruler is then considered '''Muhammad III'''.<ref name="stewart">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=John |title=African States and Rulers: An Encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1989 |p=35}}</ref>}} (Muḥammad bin Kade<ref name=":0232">{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maQxEAAAQBAJ |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2137-8 |pages=126–127 |orig-year=1996}}</ref>) was ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the mid-15th century, ruling approximately 1451–1456.{{efn|name=MuhammadReign|Different king lists (''girgam''s) and chronicles translated in the 19th–20th centuries give Muhammad different regnal lengths: a few days (Barth), 3 years (Palmer), or 5 years (Urvoy, Nachtigal, Landeroin).<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/bostonuniversity02bost |title=Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History |date=1966 |publisher=Boston University Press |pages=59, 63, 66, 81 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> As a result of this, and due to different calculations for other mais, various dates have been given for his reign, including 1456 (Barth), 1452/1453–1455 (Palmer), 1453–1458 (Urvoy), 1364–1369 (Landeroin), and 1394–1399 (Nachtigal).<ref name=":2" /> The placement of Muhammad IV in the sequence of rulers differs considerably from the others in Landeroin and Nachtigal's lists.<ref name=":2" /> Cohen (1966) considered a reign of 5 years most likely.<ref name=":2" /> Lange (1984) dated Muhammad's reign to 1445–1449,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000184287 |title=General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century |date= |website= |publisher=University of California |year=1984 |isbn=978-92-3-101710-0 |editor-last=Niane |editor-first=Djibril Tamsir |pages=261 |language=en |chapter=The kingdoms and peoples of Chad}}</ref> Stewart (1989) dated it to 1456,<ref name="stewart" /> and Bosworth (2012) dated it to 1451–1456.<ref name=":0232" />}} Muhammad ruled during the "Era of Instability", a chaotic period of internal and external conflict in the empire.

== Life == Muhammad was a son of ''mai'' Kade III.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> Muhammad did not directly succeed his father, who had been killed by the rival claimant Dunama V Ahmad.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Heinrich |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Travels_and_Discoveries_in_North_and_Cen/la_zIUj0oiwC |title=Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855 |date=1857 |publisher=Longmans |pages=642–643 |language=en}}</ref> Most reconstructions of this period place Muhammad as the successor of ''mai'' Amarma.<ref name=":0232" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":122" />

Later chronicles of the Kanem–Bornu Empire remembered Muhammad as a "cruel and sanguinary prince"<ref name=":122" /> and a tyrant.<ref name="P26">Palmer, H. R. (1926). History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu (1571–1583) (Fartua, Ahmed Ibn). p. 115.</ref> He had a brief reign;<ref name=":122" /> different sources give dates between as low as a few days and at most five years.{{efn|name=MuhammadReign}} The site of Muhammad's death is recorded as Meghjibád-Nerí-Kerbúri,<ref name=":122" /> or variations thereof (such as Magi Jibidam, Maki Zabatam).<ref name="P26" /> Muhammad was succeeded as ''mai'' by Gaji, whose relation to previous rulers is unclear.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":122" />

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == <references /> {{Kanem–Bornu rulers}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad 04 of Bornu}} Category:Rulers of the Bornu Empire Category:15th-century monarchs in Africa