My Name Is Mohamed — Mohamed Hammoud

About the book

In an age of prejudice, reclaiming your name can be the most revolutionary act of all.

When Mohamed Hammoud arrived in Canada as a child refugee from Lebanon, his family renamed him Mike — a gesture meant to shield him from prejudice, but one that erased elements of his history, faith, and roots. At home, he was still Mohamed. In public, he became someone else. That fracture between identities bred silence, impostor syndrome, and a restless search for belonging.

My Name Is Mohamed is not only a story of exile and assimilation. It is a vessel of memory, of remembrance. A weaving of wounds into wisdom. Within these pages, Hammoud gathers fragments once buried — not to dwell in the past, but to honor it, because memory is not where we get stuck; it is where we begin to understand.

Through scenes of war and migration, classrooms and prayer tablets, Hammoud shows that losing a name is never just personal. It mirrors the rifts in our world: racism, Islamophobia, intolerance, and the politics of otherness that divide societies and corrode confidence. From his childhood in Beirut to the violence of civil war, from the quiet erasure of assimilation to a TEDx Talk that catalyzed healing, Hammoud illustrates that remembrance is at the heart of faith — and shows how reclaiming a name can become a radical act of love for self, community, and truth.

Praise for My Name Is Mohamed

"Mohamed Hammoud writes with a clarity and tenderness that stay with you long after the final page. His memoir is a powerful meditation on identity, migration, and the quiet resilience required to rebuild a sense of home after displacement. What moved me most is his ability to hold both pain and possibility with such honesty. This book is not only beautifully written, but it's also deeply human."

Tala Abou Dabousa News Presenter and Reporter, Rogers TV & Sports, OMNI News

"A deeply moving memoir — a powerful introspection on identity, memory, and the courage it takes to reclaim one's truth and forge a path ahead. With grace and unwavering honesty, Mohamed Hammoud transforms his personal history into a universal story of belonging, revealing how the simple act of naming can hold the weight of faith, heritage, and healing. Timely, compassionate, and profoundly moving."

Dalia Fahmy, PhD Associate Professor of Political Science, Long Island University

"A beautiful articulation of the unspoken, too-often silenced quest to understand the divine impulse within us all. Hammoud's words resonate deep in the soul, regardless of which faith you call your own."

Katherine Monk Author of Joni: The Creative Odyssey of Joni Mitchell

"From Lebanon's wounds to an unveiled soul, My Name Is Mohamed draws us inward. We bear witness to journeys echoing through our shared humanity — as we live 'between identities and languages, belonging and becoming, faith and modernity.' Loss is transformed into grace; grace teaches us how to lift one another. Here, Mohamed is more than a name — it is a legacy: honored, enduring, and whole."

Nancy Perin Executive Director, Gallery of Human Migration

About the author

Mohamed Hammoud

Mohamed Hammoud is a Lebanese-born author, TEDx speaker, and community advocate whose life between Lebanon and Canada shapes his work. His writing explores identity, displacement, faith, and the persistence of memory through contemporary diasporic narratives, spiritual reflection, and poetry rooted in heritage.

Drawing on lived experience and cultural depth, he offers an intimate look at the human cost of rupture and the quiet resilience with which people remake meaning. He lives in London, Canada, with his wife and children.

Contact Mohamed