In 1518, al-Wazzan, a North African ambassador, became Leo Africanus, captive of Pope Leo X. His knowledge of Arabic, Latin, and Italian earned him the favor of his master, who commissioned a description of Africa as well as a Latin translation of the Quran. Since the discovery of these texts, historians have tried to establish the religious identity of its author. Those driven by Islamophobic discourses such as A. Épaulard claimed that Leo Africanus embraced Christianity while M. al-Hajwi and M. Hajji contended that al-Wazzan never left Islam behind. More recently, O. Zhiri and N. Z. Davis pointed out that the question of Leo Africanus/al-Wazzan’s religious identity strengthened preconceived notions of culture and identity as monolithic and static. Instead, they understand Leo Africanus/al-Wazzan as a man who embodied multiple identities. My paper contributes to this debate by reading Leo Africanus/al-Wazzan through the lenses of Bhabha’s theory of the third space in the context of translation. Such a theory affirms that translation results in a third code which allows for the resignification of terms and modification of the languages involved. Following Zhiri and Davis, I argue that Leo Africanus/al-Wazzan performed in-betweenness through his Description of Africa and Latin Quran. Indeed, by attributing a new signification to Italian terms, transliterating Arabic and North African words, and introducing his audience to a new conception of Africa, the translator created a third space with which to carefully activate and deactivate his multiple identities, ultimately cultivating his authority, proving his value, and accumulating trust capital. This ensured his survival and even success during captivity. Considering the linguistic and religious diversity of the Medieval Mediterranean, Bhabha’s third space proves crucial in understanding complex figures such as Leo Africanus/al-Wazzan.