He suffers from compulsive waswaas and he curses and swears. Will he be brought to account for that?

 

I suffer from compulsive waswaas, especially during prayer, in the washroom and in the car if I am on my own. The kind of waswaas that I have is swearing and cursing, which I say in anger, such as cursing myself or my father or my mother, and sometimes I cannot help it. 


I hope that you can tell me the right way to deal with this.

Praise be to Allaah.

The Shaytaan is keen to corrupt the Muslim’s worship by means
of waswaas, but the Muslim can ward off these tricks of the shaytaan by
seeking refuge in Allaah, may He be exalted, from his evil, and learning the
rulings of Islam and acquiring knowledge of fiqh. If he starts to doubt how
many rak’ahs he has done during prayer, he should proceed on the basis of
the smaller number and do the prostration of forgetfulness before saying the
salaam. If he is not sure whether he divorced his wife or not, the basic
principle is that he did not divorce her. If he is not sure whether there is
any impurity (najaasah) on his body or clothes or not, the basic principle
is that his body and clothes are pure, and so on. 

These rulings apply to cases of doubt that do not stem from
waswaas. If the doubt is caused by waswaas, then he should not pay attention
to anything that the shaytaan casts into his mind, and there is no other
solution but to seek refuge with Allaah from the Shaytaan and ignore this
waswaas, and not pay any attention to it. Similarly, after doing wudoo’ and
praying, if he feels uncertain about them, he should not pay any attention
to that uncertainty. 

If this waswaas is not warded off by seeking refuge with
Allaah, and it overwhelms the Muslim until he says or does something without
realizing, that is compulsive waswaas (al-waswaas al-qahri). This is
a kind of sickness and he should seek treatment for it by means of ruqyah
from the Qur'aan and Sunnah as prescribed in Islam, and permissible
medicines. There is no reason why he should not go to a Muslim doctor whose
religious commitment and knowledge of Islam can be trusted. 

If this person who is affected by waswaas experiences
physical movements  that he cannot control or he says things that he cannot
stop himself saying, then there is no sin on him and he is excused according
to Islam, because in that case he has been burdened with something that he
cannot bear, so he is excused because Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): 

“Allaah burdens not a person beyond his scope”

[al-Baqarah 2:286] 

“So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you
can”

[al-Taghaabun 64:16] 

In the answer to question no.
10160 we have quoted the words
of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him): 

Similarly, if there crosses his mind any thought of impugning
Allaah (may He be exalted) or impugning the Qur'aan or other kinds of kufr,
he should not pay any attention to it, and it will not harm him, and even if
we assume that he says such things involuntarily, there will be no sin on
him. End quote. 

For more information on your situation and on how to treat it
by means of ruqyahs prescribed in Islam and adhkaar narrated from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), please see the
following questions: 39684,
10160,
59931,
62839,
25778 and
12315. These are
of benefit for those who are affected by waswaas and we hope that you will
benefit from them. We ask Allaah to heal you and make you well. 

And Allaah knows best.