[3:64] 'O People of the Scripture! Come now to a word agreed upon between us and you,
It is the word of divine unity (tawḥīd) and bearing witness in singling out the Real (s) alone in creating things.
[3:64 cont'd] that we worship none but God...
Do not look in your innermost self (sirr) to any created thing. There should be no object of worship for you other than Him. There should be no aim or object of witnessing other than Him. This is the protection against polytheism (shirk). You yourself are foremost among the 'others' that should not be witnessed.
[3:64 cont'd] ...and do not take each other for lords, beside God...
The sincerity in this is made manifest in abandoning praise and blame of ['others'], removing complaining or doubt about them, and cleansing the innermost self from taking into account so much as a speck of erasure (maḥw) or affirmation (ithbāt) as coming from them. He (ṣ) said: The truest verse the Arabs sung was Labid:
Isn't everything
other than God unreal (bā?il) ?
Every blessing
is inevitably fleeting (zāÌil).