Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked about “the believing soul,” which the angels receive and carry up to the heaven in which Allah is.

He replied:

As for the hadith mentioned concerning “the taking of a believer’s soul and its being carried up to the heaven in which Allah is,” this is a well-known hadith with a good chain of transmission. The words “in which Allah is” are equivalent to His words, Most High:

“Do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you, and suddenly it would quake?”

“Or do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not send against you a storm of stones? Then you will know how severe My warning is.”

They are also equivalent to what is established in al-Sahīh:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked the slave girl of Mu'āwiyah ibn al-Hakam, ‘Where is Allah?’ She replied, ‘In heaven.’ He asked, ‘Who am I?’ She replied, ‘You are the Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’”

This does not mean that heaven confines and contains the Lord as it contains the sun, the moon, and other things. No Muslim says this, nor does any rational person believe it. Indeed, He, glorified and exalted, said:

“His Kursī encompasses the heavens and the earth.”

The heavens, in relation to the Kursī, are like a ring cast into a vast desert; the Kursī, in relation to the Throne, is like a ring cast into a vast desert; and the Lord