2.21 – People! Serve your Lord, who created you

The need for humans to serve their Lord is a major quranic theme that becomes especially prominent in Sūras 10–46. The Lord has created (khalaqa) humankind and the world (vv. 21–22, 28–29) and expects a response of gratefulness, obedience, and worship from the people he has created. The affirmation of God as Creator is familiar to the “People of the Book” and one of the most important beliefs that observant Jews, Christians and Muslims share.

Notice that the direct address (i.e., vocative) here is to humankind in general.