Ghileb was born in Tunisia around 1840, into a bourgeois family of Turkish origin. He was the maternal uncle of Mustapha Dinguizli, who succeeded him in office.^[1] During his studies at the Al-Zaytuna Mosque Ghileb became interested in politics.^[1] In 1864 he became an aide to Muhammad III as-Sadiq until he headed to City Council in Tunis as vice president in 1877.^[1] Between 1886 and 1902 he became the Governor of El Kef, of Soliman, Bizerte and Nabeul. He succeeded Mohamed Asfouri as the mayor of Tunis until his death in 1912.^[1]