Even with the fact that the tribesman was not acquainted with the religion, it is very possible that Africans in general felt that Christianity contained a series of concepts that were also present in their cultures." Though the peoples of this vast area spoke many languages and had different customs, through Christianity they were linked together in the confession of the creed of Nicaea" (Wilken). Islam had nonetheless experienced a rapid spread over the Arab Peninsula, but this can be attributed to the fact that most people in the territory had been Arab and because they saw the opportunity of adopting a religion that also had the function of uniting all the Arab people. Moreover, one can understand how Christianity had more success in converting individuals because it had mainly been directed at getting the people it came across to think spiritually and to appreciate God as a spiritual concept. Islamic individuals basically did the same thing. However, Arabs were also interested in exploiting the territories they conquered and thus made foreigners feel as if they were threatened by Islam (Yeor 44). Muhammad generally saw conquering as a form of illustrating the power of Islam, whereas Christians were not actually interested in demonstrating their power and the power of God, as they merely wanted to influence others through religion.

It would certainly be difficult for either of the two religious individuals to attempt to explain the concept of god and the advantages of following a particular religion to the religious chieftain, since he would most probably have different convictions in regard to life and his cultural values contain concepts that are unknown in the Islamic world or in Christianity.

Considering that contemporary Africa is divided between Islam and Christianity, it is thus very difficult to understand how Africans value religion and what elements are essential in determining their religious convictions.
Works cited:

Goddard, Peter a. "Converting the Sauvage: Jesuit and Montagnais in Seventh-century New France," the Catholic Historical Review 84.2 (1998)

Jenkins, Philip. "The Forgotten Christian World: In the First Millennium, Christianity Spread East from Palestine to Iraq, and on to India and China, Becoming a Global Religion Accepting of, and Accepted by, Other Faiths. But with the Mongol Invasions of the 13th Century, Christianity's Eastern Journey Came to an End, and the Religion Became Ever More Closely Identified with European Culture. Philip Jenkins Recovers This Lost History," History Today Apr. 2009

Osman, Ghada. "Pre-islamic Arab Converts to Christianity in Mecca and Medina: an Investigation into the Arabic Sources," the Muslim World 95.1 (2005)

Wilken, Robert Louis. "Christianity face-to-face with Islam," First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life Jan. 2009

Wilson, Brian. Christianity (London: Routledge, 1999)

Yeor, Bat. The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude Seventh-Twentieth Century, trans. Miriam Kochan and David Littman (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996)