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By the Sword. Worried about the future of the empire he had pieced together, Ibn Saud years ago called his sons together, made them agree to recognize the eldest, Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz al Faisal al Saud, as his heir, instead of settling the succession—as he had—"by the sword." Recently, half blind, racked by arthritis and heart disease, the old King handed over many of his duties to Crown Prince Saud and retreated into one of his fabulous palaces at Taif, near Mecca. There, last week, at 72, a fragile shadow of the giant who once rode at the head of the Wahabi, Ibn Saud the King of the Desert died. As he had decreed, the new King is Saud al Saud.