Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam) forbade his ummah to ask excessive questions, backbite and be wasteful. It is not appropriate for a person to spend the wealth they earned through halāl means in mischief, to waste it, to boast with it and to be deluded by its hugeness.
Wasting is harām in our religion. So, to continue eating after getting full is another kind of wastefulness. In this regard, The Prophet of Allāh (sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam) said: “The son of Ādam has not filled a vessel that is more harmful than his stomach. When one needs to eat, he needs to spare one-third of the stomach for food, one-third for drinks and one-third for breathing.”“If a person eats only a sufficient amount of food, he will not be rebuked.”
Food is consumed because it is beneficial for the body. However, continuing to eat after getting full is not beneficial and rather harmful to the body most of the time. So, it is not recommendable to dish extra food on the plates. Besides, when excess food is consumed, the rights of others are somehow violated. This is because if that food were given to the needy, their hunger would also be satisfied.
The following hadīth sharīf explains the standard on this matter. One day a person belched in a gathering when Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was present. The Prophet of Allāh (sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam) became angry and said, “Restrain your burp! Do you not know that the person who will go through punishment the longest will be the one whose stomach is overfilled in the world?”
One day Hadrat Umar (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhu) was asked: “Shall we bring you some juwarish for you?” He wondered what it was. They said: “It is a substance that helps you digest the food you eat.” Upon that, Hadrat Umar (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhu) said: “Subḥānallāh! Does a Muslim ever overeat?”
Some of the ulamā (Islamic Scholars) made exceptions about this matter. When a person receives a guest, it is permissible to eat a little more even if he has already eaten so as not to make the visitor feel shy. There is no harm to eat a little extra at sahur (sehri) meal to have strength to fast during the day.
