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The Ayatullah, according to many who have seen him lately, seems increasingly out of touch with his own revolution, bewildered by the pace of events. But he will never surrender power easily. On his return to Qum, he told a nationwide radio and television audience: "The remaining one or two years of my life I will devote to you to keep this movement alive." He will surely try to do so for throughout his life he has rigidly held to his commitments. The real question is whether Iran has not become too secular over the past 50 years to submit for long to the rule of a philosopher-king. ∎