The first to migrate to Medina.

‘Uqayl and others relate—likewise al-Zuhri, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah—that the Prophet ﷺ said to the believers in Mecca: “I have been shown the land to which you will emigrate; I was shown a salty plain with date-palms lying between two black stony tracts.” The two tracts are the twin lava fields that flank Medina. At that, those who were destined to leave set out for the city, and some of the Muslims who had previously gone to Abyssinia returned and made for Medina as well.

Abu Bakr made ready to depart, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told him, “Wait, for I hope that permission will be granted me.” Abu Bakr replied, “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you—do you truly hope for that?” He said, “Yes.” Accordingly, Abu Bakr delayed his own departure so that he might accompany the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and for four months he fed two riding beasts of his on the leaves of the samar tree in preparation. Al-Bukhari narrates this.

Al-Bakkāʾī transmits from Ibn Isḥāq: When Allah allowed His Prophet to fight, and this clan of the Anṣār had pledged to him their allegiance on Islam and support, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered his people to leave for Medina, to migrate there, and to join the Anṣār. They therefore set out in small parties. The very first to emigrate to the city was Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Asad, who arrived an entire year before the Greater Pledge of al-ʿAqabah. He had returned from Abyssinia to Mecca, where Quraysh mistreated him; when word reached him that a number of the Anṣār had entered Islam, he left for Medina.

Umm Salamah recounts: “When Abū Salamah finally resolved to depart, he saddled his camel for me, seated me and our son upon it, and led us out. When the men of Banū al-Mughīrah caught sight of us…”