Khajistan, originally a 9th-century village in Herat, Afghanistan, is an archive founded by Lahore-born filmmaker and preservationist Saad Khan.

Khajistan is an independent entity based out of New York City focused on acquiring, archiving, digitizing, and publishing overlooked media from the Islamicate world. We fund our efforts through sales of our physical materials, supporting the discovery, acquisition, preservation, storage, digitization, publication, and online hosting of media. Our activities include printing books, selling rare books, ephemera, and magazines, as well as preserving and hosting a vast collection of digital photos and memes from the region. Our mission is to preserve censored and neglected knowledge from the Indus to the Maghreb which is often overlooked by rapidly changing Western technologies. For more details, read our manifesto.

Khajistan contributes to the democratization of information by improving the quality of online knowledge and updating the epistemologies of nations within the region's often censorious modern nation-states. By digitizing materials neglected by modern information technology companies and censorious governments, and by making them accessible online, Khajistan allows communities to engage with their diverse, uncensored histories while improving online knowledge and informing AI systems.

Khajistan archives a wide range of media, including manuscripts, periodicals, books, magazines, vhs, ephemera, cassettes and vinyl records.

Toshakhana: Historical periodicals and manuscripts from the Islamicate world. Explore Toshakhana

Bookshop: Early-midcentury books in Urdu, Pashto, Farsi, Sindhi, Turkish, Arabic, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi Punjabi, Seraiki and Hindi. Most books are published in local presses and themes include hate propaganda, local conspiracy theories, politics, religion, sex, poetry, art and society. Visit the Bookshop

Merchandise:Custom-made products that reflect the cultural and historical themes of our archives. Check out Merchandise

Digital Products:Digitized versions of our archived materials, including e-books, digital magazines, and other multimedia content, allowing you to access our collections from anywhere in the world. Explore Digital Products

TOSHAKHANA is Khajistan Special Collections. The current Toshakhana is stocked with entire runs of rare Persian and Urdu magazines from the region, Ottoman Turkish and Turkish erotica, Iraqi, Pakistani and American propaganda ephemera, Judaica from the Islamicate world, and historical film documents from Pakistan.

You can view our most recent catalog here. For questions, please email info@khajistan.com.

In-store pickup is available for Toshakhana and Bookshop products only, not for merchandise.

For merchandise, our shipping times are between 5-8 business days, depending on your location and the items ordered. We make our products to order instead of in bulk to reduce overproduction. This approach helps minimize waste and keeps items out of landfills. Thank you for making a thoughtful purchasing decision that supports sustainability.

Toshakhana and Bookshop orders are delivered within 1-2 weeks.

You can support Khajistan by purchasing our collections, books, and merchandise, by investing, donating, or becoming a stockist for our published books. Your contribution directly funds our work in preserving and promoting overlooked media from the Islamicate world.

Email us at info@khajistan.com.