Where does the soul settle after the death of its owner?

The questioner : ... The souls settle, meaning when a person dies, where do the souls settle?

The Shaykh : First: This is a luxury of knowledge.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : I mean, this question does not lead to a legal ruling, but the human being is inquisitive; he likes to ask about everything. In the Noble Qur'an: , a questioner asked why the moon rises as a crescent and grows, grows, and grows until it becomes what? A full moon. This is related to astronomy and geography. What is the benefit of this question? It has no taste; therefore, the Wise Lawgiver turned away from the question and did not answer it, and gave an answer that contains benefit: ; meaning Allah has appointed the moon and the sun as stations so that people may benefit from this timing. As for why it becomes this and that and grows and becomes a full moon? There is no benefit in it.
My intention with this is that our brothers should train themselves to ask about things that benefit them and not delve into matters of the unseen in which the intellect has no scope to engage. This is an introduction before the answer.
We have a hadith that can be considered an answer to this question, and the hadith came in two wordings: the first relates to the martyrs, and the other relates to the believers, all the believers. He (peace be upon him) said: . The same hadith came regarding the believers, but instead of the crops, it is the bellies: . The scholars explain the difference between the souls of the martyrs being in the crops of birds and the souls of the believers being in the bellies of birds. There is no doubt that the crop is better and purer than the belly; so we can say that the souls of the believers, including the martyrs, are in Paradise... When he is placed in his grave, a window is opened for him from which he looks out upon his home in Paradise, and he receives from its spirit, its fragrance, and its bliss, and he continues to enjoy that until the Hour stands. The disbeliever is the opposite of that; a window is opened for him from which he looks out upon his home in Hellfire, and he receives from its wind, its smoke, and its flame, so he continues to be tormented until the Hour stands.
And at that time, it appears as if there is a contradiction between the crops, between the souls of the believers being in the birds as detailed above, and their being in the grave seeing their home in Paradise; and at that time we say: there is no contradiction; because it is possible that the believer is moving between his grave and the Paradise of his Lord; so he is between the garden and the orchard; since the grave is a garden from the gardens of Paradise or a pit from the pits of the Fire.
This is what I have as an answer to that question.