Mustafa son of ‘Abd Allah was born in Istanbul in the month Dhu’l-Qa‘da of the year 1017 of the Muslim era, corresponding to February 1609. His father was a Sil'ahdar, a swordbearer in the Imperial service, a pious man with a fondness for listening to learned disputations. When the boy was five or six years old, he's was taught to read the Koran, half of which he learned by heart. He then studied Arabic grammar and calligraphy. When he was fourteen, his ‘father inscribed him in his own Corps and secured him a clerical position. He accompanied him on several campaigns, the last being the unsuccessful attempt in 1625-6 to recover Baghdad from the Persians.