Muwatta Malik 1530
موطأ مالك#1530SahihThese are the words of a Companion, not of the Prophet ﷺ. The chain is graded on its own terms.
وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ رَبِيعَةَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، أَنَّ الزُّبَيْرَ بْنَ الْعَوَّامِ، لَقِيَ رَجُلاً قَدْ أَخَذَ سَارِقًا وَهُوَ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَذْهَبَ بِهِ إِلَى السُّلْطَانِ فَشَفَعَ لَهُ الزُّبَيْرُ لِيُرْسِلَهُ فَقَالَ لاَ حَتَّى أَبْلُغَ بِهِ السُّلْطَانَ . فَقَالَ الزُّبَيْرُ إِذَا بَلَغْتَ بِهِ السُّلْطَانَ فَلَعَنَ اللَّهُ الشَّافِعَ وَالْمُشَفِّعَ .
Yahya related to me from Malik from Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman that az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam came across a man who had taken hold of a thief and was intending to take him to the Sultan. Az-Zubayr ibn al- Awwam interceded for him to let him go. He said, "No. Not until I take him to the Sultan." Az-Zubayr said, "When you reach the Sultan with him, Allah curses the one who intercedes and the one who accepts the intercession
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. Each scholar's own wording:
In-book reference: 41:2