What is the ruling on the Friday preacher's statement that the soul, after leaving the body, remains between the body and the shroud and can choose the direction the coffin proceeds to bid farewell to a friend, or choose the location of the funeral prayer?

There is no evidence for this matter. It has been established that when the soul is seized, it is placed in a shroud from Paradise if it belongs to a believer, and it ascends with it to 'Illiyyin. If it belongs to a disbeliever, it is placed in sackcloth from the sackcloth of the people of the Fire.