Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī (1) reported:
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ dictated to us; Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qāsim ibn al-Qāsim al-Siyārī of Marw informed us; Ibrāhīm ibn Hilāl narrated to us; al-ʿĀmirī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq related; ʿĪsā ibn ʿUbayd al-Kindī narrated from Ghailān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿĀmirī, from Abū Zurʿah ibn ʿAmr ibn Jarīr, from Jarīr, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Allah revealed to me: whichever of these three lands you settle in will be the abode of your emigration—Medina, al-Baḥrayn, or Qinnasrīn.”

The scholars said: Allah then chose Medina for him, so he ordered his Companions to emigrate there.

This ḥadīth is extremely rare (gharīb). Al-Tirmidhī also transmitted it, in the chapter on Merits of his Jāmiʿ (2), solely through Abū ʿAmmār al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥurayth—from al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā—from ʿĪsā ibn ʿUbayd—from Ghailān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿĀmirī—from Abū Zurʿah ibn ʿAmr ibn Jarīr—from Jarīr—who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

“Allah revealed to me: whichever of these three places you alight in will be your place of emigration—Medina, al-Baḥrayn, or Qinnasrīn.”

Al-Tirmidhī then commented, “It is gharīb; we do not know it except through the report of al-Faḍl, and Abū ʿAmmār alone transmitted it.”

I say: Ghailān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿĀmirī is mentioned by Ibn Ḥibbān in al-Thiqāt (3); however, he adds, “He related from Abū Zurʿah a report concerning the Hijrah that is rejected” (4)—and Allah knows best.

Ibn Isḥāq (5) said: When Allah, exalted is He, permitted fighting—His words are:
“Permission [to fight] is granted to those who are being fought, because they have been wronged; and Allah is surely able to grant them victory—those who have been driven from their homes without right, only because they said, ‘Our Lord is Allah.’” (6) [al-Ḥajj 22:39–40]—and when this group of the Anṣār pledged allegiance to him upon Islam and upon supporting him and anyone who followed him and sought refuge with them, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed his Companions from among the Emigrants—his own people—and the other Muslims who were still with him in Mecca to set out for Medina and emigrate there, to join their brothers from the Anṣār. He said:

“Allah has provided you with brothers and a house in which you will be safe.”

So they departed in groups, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained in Mecca awaiting his Lord’s permission to leave and emigrate to Medina. The first of the Prophet’s Companions from the Quraysh to emigrate to Medina—specifically from Banū Makhzūm—was Abū Salamah ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Asad ibn Hilāl ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Makhzūm. His emigration occurred one year before the Pledge of al-ʿAqabah. Quraysh had harmed him upon his return from Abyssinia, so he resolved to go back there; but when he learned that they now had brothers in Medina, he decided to set out for it instead.