The Prologue introduces Hasan, a.k.a. Jean-Leon de Medici, and informs the reader that the book is his account of his life. Hasan emphasizes how widely he traveled and how complex his identity is. Even though he is nicknamed “the African,” he is not from Africa, Europe, or Arabia. In fact, Hasan asserts that he belongs to nothing and nowhere except God. Hasan addresses his book to his son to make sure Hasan’s memories of his travels survive.

In this and following chapters, Hasan draws on first-hand accounts given to him by his mother, Salma, and his father, a weigh-master named Muhammad, to recount the circumstances surrounding his birth. Hasan is born in Granada during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He is the first-born—and, it would turn out, only—son of Muhammad. At the time of his birth, Granada has been weakened by both civil war and the threat of invasion by the Christian Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon.

Muhammad is delighted by Hasan’s birth, but so is Salma. She has a rival, Muhammad’s concubine Warda, who was a Christian captured during a raid on a village. Muhammad fell in love with Warda, while Muhammad and Salma are cousins whose marriage was arranged when they were children.