On Muhammad Quli’s death, his nephew Muhammad Qutb Shah ascended the throne. He was a peace-loving monarch and devoted to promotion of learning. He was a good scholar and a poet. He composed verses-the ghazal, and rubais-under the pen name of Zil-ul-lah.
He further beautified Hyderabad by laying out gardens and constructing buildings.
It was during Qutb Shah’s reign that prince Khurram, later on Shahjahan, who was appointed commander of the Mughal forces in Deccan by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, demanded a peshkash from him.
Adil Shah had already signed a treaty with Khurram and Malik Ambar, too, had to evacuate Ahmadnagar after occupation for 20 years. Qutb Shah, therefore, thought it prudent to agree to Mughal demand and sent Khurram a huge sum of money.
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Later on, when Khurram now entitled Shahjahan came to the south as a fugitive hotly pursued by Prince Parvez on the order of the Emperor Jahangir, Qutb Shah gave Shahjahan the permission to pass through Tilang to Orissa and thence to Bengal.
He even helped the Mughal prince with money. Muhammad Qutb Shah died in 1626 and was succeeded by his son Abdullah Qutb Shah who was hardly 12 years old.