In summary, there are two basic sitting postures. The first is reclining, and it is not part of the Prophet’s Sunnah to eat while reclining. Every other manner of sitting is permissible, yet the best practice is to avoid a posture in which one is fully settled and completely at ease, lest that become a cause for overeating—something that is not commendable. The preferred course is for a person to allot one-third of his stomach for food, one-third for drink, and one-third for air; this is the soundest approach to nourishment. If one can observe this, that is the ideal, though there is no harm if a person occasionally eats to fullness.