Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
The whereabouts of the soul after death are among the matters of the unseen, which can only be established through the Islamic texts. The hadiths have described various conditions of people’s souls in the Barzakh; therefore, scholars have differed regarding the exact places where the souls reside.
What appears to be correct—and Allah knows best—is that the souls are not all in one place. Rather, their conditions and abodes differ according to their people and their deeds.
Some souls are in the highest levels of Paradise, such as the souls of the prophets, peace be upon them. Some souls of martyrs are in the bodies of green birds that roam freely in Paradise. Other souls are at the gate of Paradise or at the river of Barīq, where they receive provision from Paradise.
Some souls are held back in their graves because of a debt or a right owed to others. Others are punished in the Barzakh, such as the souls of adulterers, which are reported to be confined in an oven of fire, and the souls of those who consumed usury, which are reported to be punished in a river of blood.
The texts also indicate that the souls of believers and disbelievers differ greatly in their abodes. Some are in high ranks, while others are confined or punished according to the condition of their owners.
Despite the differences in the locations and conditions of souls, they retain a connection with the body in the grave. The fact that the soul may be in another place within the realm of the Barzakh does not necessarily mean that its connection with the body has been severed.
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned that scholars differed regarding the location of souls after death. He transmitted several opinions and then explained that the texts indicate that souls differ greatly in their conditions and abodes in the Barzakh.
Ibn Abi al-‘Izz, may Allah have mercy on him, summarized the views of the scholars by stating that some souls are in the highest levels of Paradise, some are in the bodies of green birds, some are held at the gate of Paradise or in the grave, and some are on earth or in places of punishment. All of these matters have been reported in the Sunnah.
Therefore, it is not correct to say that all souls reside in one place after the questioning by the two angels. Rather, their abodes and conditions differ according to what has been established in the Islamic texts.
And Allah Almighty knows best.