Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
It is established in the hadith of Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib رضي الله عنه that the soul of the deceased leaves his body at the time of death, and then passes through states that differ according to the faith of its owner.
If the deceased is a believer, the angels of mercy descend to him and give him glad tidings of Allah’s forgiveness and pleasure. Then the Angel of Death takes his soul, and the angels receive it and make it pure and fragrant, after which they ascend with it to the heaven.
The gates of heaven are opened for it, and its owner is mentioned by his best names. Then his record is written in ‘Illiyyin. After that, his soul is returned to his body, and the questioning in the grave begins.
Thus, the texts do not indicate that the believer’s soul remains suspended waiting for burial. Rather, after death it passes through the stages of the life of Barzakh that have been reported in Islamic revelation, and then it is returned to the body for the questioning in the grave.
As for the disbeliever, when his soul is taken, the angels of punishment receive it and ascend with it to heaven. Its gates are not opened for it, and the record of its owner is written in Sijjin. Then his soul is returned to his body, and the questioning in the grave begins, along with the punishment that follows from it.
It is established in the hadiths that the soul is returned to the body in the grave, and the deceased is asked about his Lord, his religion, and his Prophet. Allah grants the believer steadfastness, whereas the disbeliever or hypocrite is unable to answer.
This return is not like the return of the soul to the body during worldly life, because the life of the grave is a life of Barzakh, and its true nature and manner are among the matters of the unseen that we do not know.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿AND DO NOT PURSUE THAT OF WHICH YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE﴾ [Al-Isra’: 36].
It is not correct to say that the soul of the deceased remains suspended until his burial. Rather, what is established is that the soul leaves the body at death, and then it undergoes the stages of the life of Barzakh mentioned in the texts. The believer receives glad tidings and honor, while the disbeliever receives humiliation and punishment. Then the soul is returned to the body for the questioning in the grave.
As for the precise manner of the soul’s life in Barzakh and its exact location, these are matters of the unseen whose reality Allah has not disclosed to us. Therefore, we should restrict ourselves to what has been established in the Qur’an and Sunnah and not speculate about matters for which there is no evidence.
And Allah knows best.