MAHER MEZAHI WHEN Senegalese striker Demba Ba got off to a slow start with Newcastle United after joining them in July 2011, his coach, Alan Pardew, blamed it on his decision to fast during the holy month of Ramadan. “It’s difficult for strikers. Fasting takes their sharpness away,” Pardew said in a post-match interview.  A devout Muslim, Ba partakes in the annual custom of abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset throughout the ninth month in the Muslim calendar. Fasting during Ramadan is obligatory for all able-bodied Muslims. Special exemptions are made for children, the elderly, those who…