Muhammad IV (Muḥammad bin Kade) was mai (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the mid-15th century, ruling approximately 1451–1456. 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. Muhammad did not directly succeed his father, who had been killed by the rival claimant Dunama V Ahmad. Most reconstructions of this period place Muhammad as the successor of mai Amarma.
Later chronicles of the Kanem–Bornu Empire remembered Muhammad as a "cruel and sanguinary prince" and a tyrant.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. He had a brief reign; different sources give dates between as low as a few days and at most five years. The site of Muhammad's death is recorded as Meghjibád-Nerí-Kerbúri, or variations thereof (such as Magi Jibidam, Maki Zabatam). Muhammad was succeeded as mai by Gaji, whose relation to previous rulers is unclear.
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