An Afghan toshak (توشک) is a long floor mattress used for sitting, eating and sleeping, laid around the edge of the room with loose cushions called balesht to lean on. Sofhu makes toshak-style floor seating in Türkiye to your wall measurements, with 32 kg/m³ foam, zippered covers and free worldwide shipping.
- Dari / Persian
- توشک (toshak, also tushak, doshak)
- What it is
- A floor mattress for sitting and sleeping
- Leaning cushion
- Balesht (بالشت) or poshty
- Winter custom
- Sitting around the sandali, a low quilt-covered table
- Layout
- Around the perimeter of the room
- Sofhu filling
- 32 kg/m³ (32 DNS) high-density foam, no springs
- Covers
- Zippered; machine wash cold, inside out
- Shipping
- Free worldwide from Türkiye
On this page
In an Afghan home, the same strip of floor can be a sofa at noon, a dining place in the evening and a bed at night. The piece that makes this possible is the toshak. This page explains the Afghan toshak as a way of furnishing a room: what the pieces are called, how the room is used, how it differs from an Arabic majlis, and how Sofhu builds toshak-style seating to measure. For the product itself, see Sofhu’s existing Premium Afghan Toshak page.
What is a toshak
A toshak (توشک, also written tushak or doshak) is a large floor mattress. The word simply means mattress. Many Afghan households sit on toshaks instead of chairs, eat their meals seated on them, and sleep on them. That triple use is the heart of the tradition: the furniture does not decide what the room is for, the hour of the day does.
Toshaks are long and fairly thin. They are laid end to end around the edge of the room, so the family and guests sit in a ring facing each other with the carpet between them. There is more detail on the word and the object in the article What is a toshak?.
Toshak, balesht, sandali: the words of the room
Three words cover most of what you need:
- Toshak is the mattress you sit and sleep on.
- Balesht (بالشت), or poshty, is the cushion you lean against, something like a large pillow. Among Baluch weavers the balisht is a piled, carpet-faced bag, stuffed and used as a back cushion.
- Sandali (صندلی) is a very low table covered with a quilt, the lihaf. In winter the family sits on toshaks around it with the quilt over their knees. It is often compared to the Japanese kotatsu.
The backrest in an Afghan room is therefore a loose cushion, not a built part of the seat. There are no fixed armrests either. This is the clearest difference from Gulf seating, where an armrest bolster marks each person’s place. The same carpet-and-backrest idea appears next door in Iran, described under Persian poshti seating.
One room for sitting, eating and sleeping
The toshak room works because nothing in it is fixed. During the day the mattresses line the walls and the centre is clear. For a meal, people stay where they are and the food comes to them at floor level. At night a toshak becomes a bed, which is why extra guests are never a furniture problem.
Two things follow for anyone furnishing this way today. First, seat length matters more than in a room used only for sitting, because a mattress someone may sleep on should be long enough to lie on. Second, the filling has to cope with being both seat and bed. A regional supplier catalogue distinguishes toshaks by city and filling, though that is a weak source and we would not build a rule on it. If you are weighing traditional fillings against foam, the comparison of foam, cotton and wool filling sets out the trade-offs.
Afghan floor sofa and Arabic majlis compared
An Afghan floor sofa is softer in outline and simpler in parts than either Arabic product Sofhu makes. The Arabic floor sofa is a low cushion set and the toshak’s closer relative. The Arabic majlis is raised, sofa-height seating built as upholstered units. The table shows the differences.
| Afghan toshak room | Arabic floor sofa | Arabic majlis | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat | Thin, long mattress | Thicker seat mattress on the floor | Raised upholstered unit |
| Backrest | Loose balesht cushions | Loose back cushions on the wall | Tall fixed back |
| Armrest | None fixed | Armrest blocks | Arm bolsters |
| Use | Sitting, meals, sleeping | Sitting, meals, hosting | Mainly receiving guests |
People searching for an Afghan majlis are usually after the first column with some of the comfort of the second, not the raised set in the third. That is a reasonable thing to want, and a made-to-order set can sit anywhere between the two. The full comparison is in Afghan toshak vs Arabic majlis.
How Sofhu builds an Afghan couch
Sofhu’s toshak sets keep the long, low mattress and add structure where a foam set benefits from it. The cream set shown on this page has a flat seat mattress on the floor, upright back cushions in a banded cross-stitch pattern in burgundy and green, and small armrest blocks at the ends of each run. You can have it without the armrests if you want the traditional open line.
The close-ups show how the mattress is made: a square, firmly filled edge, piped seams, and a zip in the side panel so the cover comes off. Inside is 32 kg/m³ foam, written 32 DNS in the Turkish trade. That figure is the weight of a cubic metre of foam. It describes how much material is in the mattress, not how hard it is. According to the Polyurethane Foam Association, denser foam generally keeps its original support better, which matters for a piece that is sat on all day. The cushions have no springs, and on custom orders you can ask for a softer or firmer feel and a different thickness.
One practical point: floor sets are not freestanding. The back cushions need a wall behind them, as they do in any Afghan room.
An Afghani sofa for homes abroad
Many people looking for a toshak set live outside Afghanistan. Large Afghan communities live around Fremont in California and in Northern Virginia, in Toronto, in Hamburg, which has the biggest Afghan community in Europe, and in the south-east of Melbourne around Casey and Greater Dandenong. Rooms in these places were designed for Western sofas, so the toshak has to be fitted to them.
Some guidance that holds across those homes:
- Use the longest unbroken wall for the main run and turn the corner only if the second wall is clear of doors.
- Keep the toshak off a radiator wall where you can, or leave a gap in front of it.
- In a living room shared with a television, an L-shape facing the screen works better than a full ring.
- If the room must also sleep guests, plan at least one straight run with no armrest in the middle.
The guide on how to measure a room for a majlis applies equally to toshaks. Buyers in Germany can also read the existing page on Arabic sofas in Germany.
Ordering a toshak set by measurement
Sofhu makes each set in Türkiye from your wall measurements, so there is no standard size to choose from. Send the length of every wall that will carry seating, the position of doors and windows, a photo of the room and of your carpet, and a note on whether you want armrests. Matching floor cushions, a rug and an ottoman can be added.
The set is vacuum packed and shipped free worldwide. Duties or taxes may apply depending on the destination, and you can ask before ordering. For the wider family of low seating, see Arabic floor sofas and the neighbouring Kurdish diwan; for raised seating, see the Arabic jalsa. When you are ready, get a quote by measurement or write on WhatsApp.
