A Persian Proverb borrowed by Urdu, Hanooz Dilli Dur Ast can be traced back to a confrontation between a Sultan and a Dervish.
Sultan Ghias-ud-din Tughlaq was planning to set out for a war campaign in Lakhnauti. Before he left, he sent a letter to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, ordering him and his disciples to leave Delhi.
When the royal messenger brought the Sultan’s letter to the Dervish, he took the letter from the messenger, and penned a sentence on it: Hanooz Dilli Dur Ast (Dilli is still far away).
The Sultan was offended and furious. He promised his court to deal with the Dervish after he returned from the war. A few weeks later, news of the Sultan’s victory found its way to court.
Shehzada Muhammad ibn Tughlaq constructed a palace in honour of his father on the way back from Lakhnauti to Delhi, at Afwanpur. The Sultan was to stay there overnight before coming back to Delhi.
When the Sultan reached Afwanpur, Nizamuddin Auliya’s disciples panicked. The Dervish told them once again, “Hanooz Dilli Dur Ast” - as fate would have it, the Sultan did not wake up the next morning.
Since then, the phrase has become an idiom, which means "Do not worry about a problem which does not exist yet."
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