What does the word majlis mean?
Majlis comes from the Arabic for a place of sitting, and in many homes the word covers two things at once: the room where guests are received and the low seating that runs along its walls. Family and visitors sit close to the floor with their backs to the wall, facing one another across the room. Seats are made from 4 in (10 cm) up to 16 in (40 cm) high, with 8 in (20 cm) and 12 in (30 cm) in between, so the same room can keep the traditional low line or rise to sofa height. Our Arabic majlis sets are planned the same way, wall by wall.
From the atelier
Questions buyers ask
- Besides the Arabic majlis, do you make Yemeni, Iraqi diwan or Moroccan floor seating?
- Arabic majlis, floor sofas, diwan sets and Moroccan-style sofas come from our Istanbul workshop, along with close versions of regional styles: Yemeni seating with a mattress and separate leaning cushions, old-style patterns in turquoise or burgundy, or a plain red full-foam set in a village-room style. Send a reference photo and the team matches pattern, color and seat height.
- Is the ottoman in the middle of a majlis a table or a seat?
- The ottoman works as both: a firm square block of 23.5 × 23.5 × 8 in (60 × 60 × 20 cm) that holds trays and tea and is solid enough to sit on. With two of them, place them side by side for a wider surface or stack them for a taller table. Pouf pillows are a different piece, softer cushions for leaning or an occasional extra seat.
How is a majlis laid out, piece by piece?
- Lay the seat cushions along each wall, each about 75 × 27.5 × 4 in (190 × 70 × 10 cm) in a standard set.
- Stand two backrests against the wall behind every seat.
- Fit a short corner backrest wherever two runs meet.
- Close each open end with an armrest bolster.
- Place the pouf pillows where people like to lean.
- Set the ottoman in the middle as a low table.
A foam floor set needs no tools or assembly, and its seats come out about 27.5 in (70 cm) from the wall. A custom foam majlis arrives with its pieces numbered at the workshop, so the room comes together in the order it was drawn. Every family has an uncle who claims the corner seat. Plan for him.
The same low seating goes by at least 6 names, from jalsa in the Gulf and qaada in the Levant to diwan in Iraq and toshak in Afghan homes.
What is each piece of a majlis called, and how big is it?
Each piece has one English name and several Arabic ones, because the word changes as you cross a border. These are the names you are most likely to hear, with the region in brackets:
| Piece | Arabic names you may hear | Standard size | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat cushion | farsha (pan-Arab), tarraha (Hijaz, Levant, Iraq), matrah (Yemen, Maghreb) | 75 × 27.5 × 4 in (190 × 70 × 10 cm) | The seat itself, often called the mattress |
| Backrest | masanid zahr (pan-Arab), zahriyyat (Levant, Gulf) | 37.5 × 16 × 4 in (95 × 40 × 10 cm) | Leans on the wall, two to each seat |
| Corner backrest | zawiya (pan-Arab) | 23.5 × 16 × 4 in (60 × 40 × 10 cm) | Fills the inside corner where two runs meet |
| Armrest bolster | maraki (Najd, Gulf), madaki (Yemen, Hijaz), takkayat (Levant, Egypt), kusha (Iraq) | 19.5 × 8 × 8 in (50 × 20 × 20 cm); about 10 × 10 × 21.5 in (25 × 25 × 55 cm) on raised sets | Closes an open end of a run |
| Pouf pillow | mikhaddat buf (Gulf, Levant) | 27.5 × 19.5 in (70 × 50 cm) | Soft support for leaning |
| Ottoman | tawilat wasat (pan-Arab), mez (Iraq) | 23.5 × 23.5 × 8 in (60 × 60 × 20 cm) | Low table that doubles as a seat |
Which rooms does a majlis furnish, from diwaniya to family room?
In many homes the majlis is the guest room, kept a little apart from daily life. It may be called a diwaniya in Kuwait and Iraq, a madafa in the Levant or a mafraj at the top of an old Yemeni house. Some families keep two, one for men and one for women, each lined from wall to wall.
Families who settle far from the Gulf or Yemen often rebuild the room in whatever space the new house offers: across North America, Europe and Australia it turns up in basements, converted garages and front living rooms, where a raised seat of 16 in (40 cm) sits close to the height of a regular living-room sofa. The same seating also furnishes cafés, restaurants, halls and community rooms, which is the work of our commercial majlis seating projects.
Which majlis words mean something else in English?
A few of these words lead double lives, and knowing the second meaning saves a confusing search or a wrong order.
| Word | On a majlis | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Diwan, divan | A low seating set along the walls; in Iraq and the Gulf, also the guest room | A bed base in the UK, a daybed in South Asia |
| Ottoman | A firm foam cube used as a table or a seat | A storage footstool in the UK, or the Ottoman era in history |
| Mattress | The seat cushion, about 27.5 in (70 cm) deep on a floor set | A bed mattress |
| Jalsa, jalsah | The complete seating set, a word heard most in the Gulf; qaada in the Levant and Egypt | On its own, simply a sitting or a session |
| Sedir | The Turkish low bench-divan along a wall | Also the Turkish word for cedar |
| Toshak | The Afghan floor-mattress seat with balesht back bolsters | Literally a mattress in Dari |
Which naming mix-ups trip up first-time majlis buyers?
- Reading mattress as a bed, when it means the seat cushion of the set.
- Searching for a divan and landing on bed bases instead of floor seating.
- Assuming every majlis sits on the floor, when a raised seat reaches sofa height.
- Treating a ready-size diwan set and a room-size custom majlis as the same order.
- Expecting floor seating to stand in the middle of a room, when it leans on a wall or a firm support.
- Calling the ottoman a pouf, so the order lists a soft pillow instead of a firm table.
Where can you see each style of Arabic floor seating?
| Style | What sets it apart | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Floor sofa | Ready-size single, L and U sets of 10, 14 or 19 pieces | Arabic floor sofa sets |
| Moroccan floor seating | Long banquettes with firm mattresses and loose back cushions | Moroccan floor seating |
| Every design in one place | Majlis, floor sofas and room pieces side by side | all designs |
Late on an Eid evening, with the coffee pot on its third round and the children asleep against the backrests, a majlis is doing exactly what its name promises: keeping people seated together. When you are ready for your own, start with the walls of the room you already have.
Frequently asked questions
Is a majlis the same thing as a diwaniya?
A diwaniya is the reception room itself, the name used in Kuwait and Iraq for a space kept for guests and long evenings of conversation. Majlis can mean that room too, and it also names the low seating that furnishes it, so in everyday speech the two words often overlap.
What is Arabic floor seating called in English?
English has no single word for it. Majlis is the most widely understood name, and you will also see floor sofa, Arabic sofa, Arabic couch and floor couch used for the same low seating that lines the walls of a room.
What is inside a majlis seat?
Floor sofas and full-foam majlis seats have no internal wood, metal frame or springs; the foam itself gives the shape, firm to medium-firm unless a softer or firmer filling is requested. Wood-frame designs set the same foam seats on a base of solid pine or MDF.
