He was born in 1913 in Jerusalem. His family is rooted in Hebron. He graduated from the University of London in 1942 with a BA in History.
He is considered one of the most prominent men of education in Palestine since the 1930s until his death
He founded the Abrahamic College in East Jerusalem in 1931.He was its president and supervisor of its development until he passed away in 2009 at the age of 96.
Assigned by the Jordanian government to work with the Red Cross to assist refugees in the city of Jericho during the Nakba of Palestine in 1948 until 1952, where he ended his assignment with the Red Cross and returned to his work at the Ibrahimia College
He was elected as a member of the Jerusalem municipality in 1953 and continued his membership in the municipality for sixteen years after the occupation dissolved it even though its members did not recognize this solution. Israeli means accepting the occupation

He held several positions and was a member of many institutions including:
Council of the Supreme Islamic Authority
Board of Trustees of the Faculty of Science and Board of Trustees of the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Abu Dis
He was elected Chairman of the Administrative Board of Jerusalem Private Schools
The Administrative Council of the University of Hebron University
Administrative Board of the Industrial School in Jerusalem, affiliated to the Arab Orphan Committee
He was elected Chairman of the Administrative Board of Jerusalem Private Schools
He dedicated the Wajdi Nihad Abu-Gharbiyeh Prize for Literary Creativity, an annual prize for literary creativity among Jerusalem secondary school students.

The late Professor Nouhad Abu Gharbieh devoted much of his attention to education, believing that the national struggle is an integral part of education, although he did not engage directly in political action.

He was arrested several times during the British Mandate in Acre and Jerusalem prisons.He was arrested in 1958 and exiled to Al-Jafr Prison.He was arrested for the fourth time in Qishla Prison in Jerusalem, where his wife, Nadira Abu-Ghazaleh, took over the management of the Abrahamic College during his detention.

The late Mr. Nihad supported his brother Bahjat in his struggle and had a great role during the Nakba with the late Anu Nusseibeh, Anwar Al-Khatib, Adnan Al-Tamimi and Saeed Metwalli when Jerusalem was about to fall into the hands of the occupiers.

One of the most prominent national positions, his position on the implementation of the Israeli curriculum after the occupation in 1967, where Israel imposed the application of the curriculum on schools in Jerusalem, but confronted this action with a number of fellow principals of private schools in Jerusalem and refused to implement this curriculum, and failed by insisting the Israeli plan to do so and continued to apply The Jordanian curriculum, which was taught sixty-seven years ago, has now been transformed into the Palestinian curriculum.
In eighty-five years, Mr. Nihad was arrested in Al-Maskobia prison after the Israeli army stormed the premises of the college and after his interrogation he refused to leave the detention center before all the students and staff were released.