You Say: “Oh people of the Book! Come to a word equal between you and us that we shouldn’t serve anyone except Lord Allah, and we shouldn’t associate anything with Him, nor should any of us take others as lords other than Allah”; if they turn away, then you say: “You bear witness that indeed we are submitted wholly to Allah”.
The addressees of this verse are the Jews and Christians who were the people of the Book at the time of Messenger. It is told in verses 9: 30-31: “Jews say: Uzair is the son of Lord Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; that is their saying with their mouths, they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before them, Allah had killed them; how they are deluded? They have taken their priests and monks as lords besides Allah; and the Jesus, the son of Mariam, while they were not commanded except to serve one Deity, there is no deity except Him, glory is to Him from having the partners they are associating with Him”.
After thirty years of the last Messenger’s departure, the people of the Book have become the Arabic Quran reading Fujjar who hide and reject Adhikr as explained in verses 3: 7-10. They are falsely claiming and boasting that they are Muslims, but they are the Mujirims serving Satan as explained in verses 2: 168-169. It is told in verses 33: 73; 48: 6 and 98: 6: “The Trust Adhikr is revealed to punish hypocritical men and women as well as Mushrik men and women”. By calling the believers it is told in verse 9: 34: “Indeed, most of the priests and anchorites are eating the wealth of the mankind falsely, and are preventing the mankind from Adhikr”.
The True Muslims are those who submit wholly to Lord testifying Adhikr as the Mercy, Guidance, and Herald as explained in verse 16: 89. See explanation 1: 4; 2: 99 and 9: 67-68.